THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


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THIS  SKETCH 

IS   REPRINTED   FROM   THE  APPENDIX  TO 

REMINISCENCES 

OF 

FRIEDRICH   FROEBEL 

BY 

BARONESS  B.  VON  MRAENHOLZ-BULOW 

Kranslattti 
BY  MRS.  HORACE  MANN 


PUBLISHED  BY  LEE  AND  SHEPARD,  BOSTON 

FRIENDS'  BOOK  ASSOCIATION,  PHILADELPHIA 

i6mo.    Cloth.    Price,  $1.50 


REMINISCENCES 


OF 


FRIEDRICH   FROEBEL. 


BY 


\  o        o  o 

BARONESS   B.  VON    MARENHOLZ-BULOW. 


BY  MRS.  HORACE   MANN. 

WITH  A   SKETCH  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  FRIEDRICH  FROEBEL 
BY  EMILY  SHIRREFF. 


BOSTON: 
LEE  AND   SHEPARD,  PUBLISHERS. 

NEW  YORK: 

CHARLES  T.   DILLINGHAM. 

1889. 


COPYRIGHT,  '  1877. 
EY  MARY    MANN. 


UNIVERSITY  PRESS:  JOHN  WILSON  &  SON, 
CAMBRIDGE. 


L& 

637 
77)33 


NOTE  BY  THE  TRANSLATOR. 


'T^HOSE  who  are  truly  interested  in  the  Remi- 
•*•  niscences  of  Froebel  will  wish  to  know  more 
particulars  of  the  history  of  his  life  than  are  given 
in  these  recollections  of  the  last  four  years  of  it. 
In  the  Appendix  will  be  found  a  paper  by  Mrs. 
Emily  Shirreff,  President  of  the  Froebel  Society 
of  London,  and  author  of  the  "  Kindergarten," 
"  Principles  of  Froebel's  System,"  and  "  Intellec- 
tual Education  of  Women,"  read  at  the  monthly 
meeting,  June,  1876. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  PAGB 

I.  MY  FIRST  MEETING  WITH  FROEBEL     .       .       .  x 

II.  FROEBEL  IN  LIEBENSTEIN n 

III.  DlESTERWEG  AND   FROEBEL   IN   LlEBENSTEIN         .  22 

IV.  MlDDENDORFF 35 

V.  THE  SUMMER  OF  1850  IN  LIEBENSTEIN       .       .  49 

VI.  VISIT  OF  DR.  GUSTAV  KUHNE  ....  61 

VII.  VISIT  OF  DR.  HIECKE 78 

VIII.  EDUCATIONAL  VALUE  OF  FESTIVALS.       .       .  97 

IX.  CHILD-FESTIVAL  AT  ALTEN  STEIN  ....  104 

X.  HERR  VON  WYDENBRUGK 124 

XI.  DR.  R.  BENFEY  AND  TEACHER  HERMANN  POSCHE  149 

XII.  DR.  WICHARD  LANGE 165 

XIII.  THE  LAST  SUMMER  IN  LIEBENSTEIN    .       .       .  173 

XIV.  SECOND  VISIT  OF  DIESTERWEG  .        .       .       .  177 
XV.  VISIT  OF  HERR  BORMANN 194 

XVI.  THE   PROHIBITION   OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  IN 

PRUSSIA 197 

XVII.  VISIT  OF  VARNHAGEN  VON  ENSE      .       .       .  203 

XVIII.  TEACHERS'  CONVENTION 256 

XIX.  LAST  DAYS  OF  FROEBEL  288 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL 

CHAPTER    I. 

MY  FIRST  MEETING  WITH  FROEBEL. 

IN  the  year  1849,  at  the  end  of  May,  I  arrived  at  the 
Baths  of  Liebenstein,  in  Thuringia,  and  took  up  my 
abode  in  the  same  house  as  in  the  previous  year.  After 
the  usual  salutations,  my  landlady,  in  answer  to  "my  in- 
quiry as  to  what  was  happening  in  the  place,  told  me  that 
a  few  weeks  before,  a  man  had  settled  down  on  a  small 
farm  near  the  springs,  who  danced  and  played  with  the 
village  children,  and  therefore  went  by  the  name  of  "the 
old  fool."  Some  days  after  I  met  on  my  walk  this  so- 
called  "  old  fool."  A  tall,  spare  man,  with  long  gray 
hair,  was  leading  a  troop  of  village  children  between  the 
ages  of  three  and  eight,  most  of  them  barefooted  and 
but  scantily  clothed,  who  marched  two  and  two  up  a  hill, 
where,  having  marshalled  them  for  a  play,  he  practised 
with  them  a  song  belonging  to  it.  The  loving  patience 
and  abandon  with  which  he  did  this,  the  whole  bearing 
of  the  man  while  the  children  played  various  games 
under  his  direction,  were  so  moving,  that  tears  came  into 
my  companion's  eyes  as  well  as  into  my  own,  and  I  said 


2  REMINISCENCES    OF    FROEBEL. 

to  her,  "  This  man  is  called  an  '  old  fool '  by  these 
people ;  perhaps  he  is  one  of  those  men  who  are  ridiculed 
or  stoned  by  contemporaries,  and  to  whom  future  genera- 
tions build  monuments." 

The  play  being  ended,  I  approached  the  man  with  the 
words,  "  You  are  occupied,  I  see,  in  the  education  of  the 
people." 

"  Yes,"  said  he,  fixing  kind,  friendly  eyes  upon  me, 
"  that  I  am." 

"It  is  what  is  most  needed  in  our  time,"  was  my 
response.  "  Unless  the  people  become  other  than  they 
are,  all  the  beautiful  ideals  of  which  we  are  now  dream- 
ing as  practicable  for  the  immediate  future  will  not  be 
realized." 

"That  is  true,"  he  replied;  "but  the  'other  people' 
will  not  come  unless  we  educate  them.  Therefore  we 
must  be  busy  with  the  children." 

"  But  where  shall  the  right  education  come  from  ?  It 
often  seems  to  me  that  what  we  call  education  is  mostly 
folly  and  sin,  which  confines  poor  human  nature  in  the 
strait-jacket  of  conventional  prejudices  and  unnatural 
laws,  and  crams  so  much  into  it  that  all  originality  is 
stifled." 

"  Well,  perhaps  I  have  found  something  that  may  pre- 
vent this  and  make  a  free  development  possible.  Will 
you,"  continued  the  man,  whose  name  I  did  not  yet 
know,  "  come  with  me  and  visit  my  institution  ?  We  will 
then  speak  further,  and  understand  each  other  better." 

I  was  ready,  and  he  led  me  across  a  meadow  to  a 
country-house  which  stood  in  the  midst  of  a  large  yard, 
surrounded  by  outhouses.  He  had  rented  this  place  to 
educate  young  girls  for  kindergartners.  In  a  large  room, 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  3 

in  the  middle  of  which  stood  a  large  table,  he  introduced 
me  to  his  scholars,  and  told  me  the  different  duties 
assigned  to  each  in  the  housekeeping.  Among  these 
scholars  was  Henrietta  Breyman,  his  niece.  He  then 
opened  a  large  closet  containing  his  play-materials,  and 
gave  some  explanation  of  their  educational  aim,  which 
at  the  moment  gave  me  very  little  light  on  his  method. 
I  retain  the  memory  of  only  one  sentence:  "Man  is  a 
creative  being." 

But  the  man  and  his  whole  manner  made  a  deep  im- 
pression upon  me.  I  knew  that  I  had  to  do  with  a  true 
MAN,  with  an  original,  unfalsified  nature.  When  one  of 
his  pupils  called  him  Mr.  Froebel,  I  remembered  having 
once  heard  of  a  man  of  the  name  who  wished  to  edu- 
cate children  by  play,  and  that  it  had  seemed  to  me  a 
very  perverted  view,  for  I  had  only  thought  of  empty 
play,  without  any  serious  purpose. 

As  Froebel  accompanied  me  part  of  the  way  back  to 
Liebenstein,  which  was  about  half  an  hour's  distance 
from  his  dwelling,  we  spoke  of  the  disappointment  of 
the  high  expectations  that  had  been  called  forth  by  the 
movements  of  1848,  when  neither  of  the  parties  was 
right  or  in  a  condition  to  bring  about  the  desired  ameli- 
oration. 

"  Nothing  comes  without  a  struggle,"  said  Froebel ; 
"  opposing  forces  excite  it,  and  they  find  their  equilib- 
rium by  degrees.  Strife  creates  nothing  by  itself,  it  only 
clears  the  air.  New  seeds  must  be  planted  to  germinate 
and  grow,  if  we  will  have  the  tree  of  humanity  blossom. 
We  must,  however,  take  care  not  to  cut  away  the  roots 
out  of  which  all  growth  comes,  as  the  destructive  ele- 
ment of  to-day  is  liable  to  do.  We  cannot  tear  the 


4  REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL. 

present  from  the  past  or  from  the  future.  Past,  pjresent, 
and  future  are  the  trinity  of  time.  The  future  demands 
the  renewing  of  life,  which  must  begin  in  the  present. 
In  the  children  lies  the  seed-corn  of  the  future  !  " 

Thus  Froebel  expressed  himself  concerning  the  move- 
ments of  the  time,  always  insisting  that  the  historical 
(traditional)  must  be  respected,  and  that  the  new  crea- 
tion can  only  come  forth  out  of  the  old. 

"  Thatjvhichjollows  is  always  conditioned  upon  that 
which  goes  before,"  he  would  repeat.  "I  make  that 
apparent  to  the  children  through  my  educational  pro- 
cess." (The  Second  Gift  of  his  play-materials  shows  this 
in  concrete  things.) 

But  while  Froebel,  with  his  clear  comprehension,  cast 
his  eyes  over  the  movements  of  the  time,  neither  joining 
with  the  precipitate  party  of  progress  nor  with  the  party 
of  reaction  that  would  hinder  all  progress,  he  was  counted 
by  those  in  authority  among  the  revolutionists,  and  con- 
demned with  his  kinderga/tens.  He  repeated  again  and 
again :  "  The  destiny  of  nations  lies  far  more  in  the  hands 
of  women  —  the  mothers  —  than  in  the  possessors  of 
power,  or  of  those  innovators  who  for  the  most  part  do 
not  understand  themselves.  We  must  cultivate  women, 
who  are  the  educators  of  the  human  race,  else  the  new 
generation  cannot  accomplish  its  task."  This  was  almost 
always  the  sum  of  his  discourse. 


FROEBEL'S  NORMAL  TEACHING. 

Already  on  this  first  day  of  my  acquaintance  with 
Froebel  the  agreement  was  made  that  I  should  take  part 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  5 

as  often  as  possible  in  the  instruction  given  to  the  pupils 
he  was  training. 

The  fire  with  which  he  uttered  and  illustrated  his 
views  gave  them  a  peculiar  stamp,  and  the  deep  convic- 
tion with  which  he  demonstrated  their  justice  was  some- 
times overpowering  and  sublime.  He  became  entirely 
another  person  when  his  genius  came  upon  him ;  the 
stream  of  his  words  then  poured  forth  like  a  fiery  rain. 
It  often  came  quite  unexpectedly  and  on  slight  occa- 
sions ;  as  in  our  walks,  for  instance,  the  contemplation 
of  a  stone  or  plant  often  led  to  profound  outbursts  upon 
the  universe.  But  the  foundation  of  all  his  discourses 
was  always  his  theory  of  development,  —  the  law  of  uni- 
versal development  applied  to  the  human  being. 

One  needed  to  see  Froebel  with  his  class,  in  order  to 
realize  his  genius  and  the  strong  power  of  conviction 
which  inspired  him.  No  one  could  avoid  receiving  a 
deep  impression  of  it  who  saw  him  in  that  circle  of 
young  maidens,  teaching  with  that  profound  enthusiasm 
which  only  an  unswerving  conviction  of  the  truth  uttered 
lends  to  the  discourse,  with  a  love  for  the  subject  which 
communicated  his  enthusiasm  to  his  hearers,  and  an 
untiring  patience. 

The  greater  number  of  his  scholars  may  not  have  fully 
comprehended  his  words,  for  that  which  he  was  teaching 
often  far  transcended  their  accustomed  sphere  of  thought, 
and  his-  strange  mode  of  speech  made  it  difficult  for 
them  to  understand  him ;  but  the  spirit  of  the  subject 
penetrated  their  hearts,  and  in  the  course  of  his  teaching 
developed  a  partial  understanding  of  it.  This  was  true 
only  of  those  who  could  understand  with  the  heart,  and 
in  whom  also  love  for  the  subject  was  really  awakened. 


6  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

Yet  it  cannot  be  denied  that  some  of  his  scholars  carried 
into  their  own  subsequent  activity  nothing  but  the  prac- 
tical occupations  of  the  kindergarten,  and  often,  alas ! 
an  assumption  of  a  knowledge  which  is  not  real  knowl- 
edge. 

But  the  learning  of  the  practical  occupations  and 
plays  in  their  logical  connection,  and  with  their  intel- 
lectual meaning,  gave  each  of  these  young  maidens  at 
least  a  limited  comprehension  of  the  subject.  The  full 
measure  of  it,  indeed,  can  be  appreciated  only  by  the 
highly  gifted  and  highly  developed. 

The  understanding  of  his  often  obscure  style  was 
facilitated  by  the  accompanying  demonstrations.  Tears 
would  often  be  seen  in  the  eyes  of  his  scholars,  when 
with  his  overflowing  love  of  humanity  he  would  speak 
of  the  helplessness  of  children,  exposed  to  all  harms  by 
the  arbitrary  way  in  which  they  are  managed,  but  whom 
God  has  intrusted  to  the  female  sex  to  be  moulded  into 
true  men  and  at  the  same  time  into  children  of  God,  to 
be  led  back  consciously  to  him  from  whom  they  had 
come  forth.  And  then  he  further  emphasized  the  great 
responsibility  which  was  imposed  upon  women  as  educa- 
tors of  the  human  race,  —  a  responsibility  doubled  in  our 
day,  whose  problems  are  so  great  and  difficult  to  solve 
that  the  male  sex  alone  is  not  able  to  solve  them. 
"  The  immature  must  become  mature ;  the  immature  are 
especially  the  women  and  children  whose  human  dignity 
has  not  been  in  full  measure  recognized  hitherto,"  he 
used  to  say,  when  he  spoke  of  the  new  tasks  of  the 
female  sex.  He  was  most  difficult  to  understand  when 
he  spoke  of  the  application  of  his  "  law "  through  the 
gifts ;  and  also  when  he  treated  of  the  first  impressions 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  J 

of  the  outward  world  upon  the  very  young  child,  which 
were  given  by  concrete  things,  symbols,  as  it  were,  for 
the  later  apprehension  of  spiritual  facts. 

Even  the  most  developed  of  his  scholars  were  hardly 
capable  of  clearly  reproducing  this  truly  most  difficult 
and  obscure  side  of  his  instruction.  I  saw  this  from 
their  note-books  in  which  they  wrote  down  the  contents 
of  his  lessons  to  them.  On  this  account,  therefore,  I 
have  ever  since  conducted  this  part  of  the  instruction  in 
quite  another  manner  than  he  was  accustomed  to  do. 

But  his  eyes  sparkled  with  delight  when  he  pointed 
out  to  me,  here  and  there,  in  these  note-books,  passages 
which  showed  a  deeper  insight  and  understanding  of 
the  subjects  he  had  treated.  Still  more  would  his  joy 
break  forth  when  I  would  further  develop  and  explain 
the  illustrations  which  he  privately  gave  to  me,  and  when 
I  showed  that  I  had  reflected  upon  what  I  had  received 
from  him. 

"  How  did  you  know  that  ? "  he  often  asked  me  when 
he  was  explaining  the  meaning  of  his  play-materials,  and 
I  anticipated  him.  "  I  have  not  yet  spoken  of  that." 
My  answer,  "  I  can  infer  it  from  my  own  recollection 
of  the  intellectual  demands  of  my  earliest  childhood,'^ 
made  him  quite  happy,  and  he  would  reply,  "  You  see, 
then,  that  it  is  true." 

And  so  he  would  say,  when  I  communicated  to  him 
at  that  time  some  of  my  own  very  short  notes  of  his 
teachings,  as,  for  example,  an  aphoristical  statement  like 
the  following  :  "  The  first  circle  in  the  unfolding  of  the 
earliest  child-life  is  unconscious  nature  bound  by  ne- 
cessity." 

"  Childhood,  in  this  first  period  of  life,  can  only  find 


8  REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL. 

its  antitype  in  the  external  phenomena  of  the  sensible 
world,  from  the  crudest  types  of  nature  onward,  which 
prefigure  their  organisms.  The  elementary  finds  itself 
again  only  in  the  elementary." 

"  These  images  wake  the  soul-germs  that  are  related 
to  all  nature,  which,  on  the  other  hand,  is  a  symbol  of 
the  spiritual.  The  still  unthinking  mind  of  the  child 
can  be  awakened  and  taught  only  through  symbols  or 
the  higher  mental  images.  Natural  phenomena  furnish 
these  symbols,  but  not  in  the  elementary  form  which 
corresponds  with  the  still  unarticulated  simplicity  of  the 
child's  soul.  They  must  first  be  selected  out  of  the 
great  manifoldness  of  things  by  the  thinking  mind. 
They  must  reflect  the  universal  law  that  gives  its  form 
to  the  smallest  as  well  as  to  the  largest  object,  to  the 
flowers  as  well  as  to  the  celestial  bodies." 

"  The  simplest  forms  (types),  which  lie  at  the  founda- 
tion of  the  fabric  of  the  world,  lay  also  the  foundation 
in  the  minds  of  children  for  the  understanding  of  the 
world,  which  expresses  God's  thought  (spirit).  These 
simplest  and  unarticulated  forms  are  the  fundamental 
forms  of  crystallization."  (The  solid  forms  of  Froebel's 
second  Gift.) 

"The  norms  of  all  the  organisms  and  all  the  phe- 
nomena of  nature  are  the  universal  properties  of  things, 
that  which  is  peculiar  to  them  all  in  spite  of  the  infinite 
variety  of  form  ;  and  this  universe,  which  expresses  itself 
in  form  and  color,  in  relations  of  size  and  weight,  in 
tone,  in  number,  etc.,  is  to  be  stamped  in  the  most  ele- 
mentary manner  on  the  child's  soul,  through  his  eye,  as 
fundamental  form,  fundamental  color,  fundamental  tone, 
—  archetypes  as  it  were  of  ideas." 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  9 

"  Definite,  clear,  and  sharply  drawn  conceptions  fol- 
low such  logically  ordered  ideas  in  the  subsequent  circle 
of  development.  A  correct  comprehension  of  external, 
material  things  is  a  preliminary  to  a  just  comprehension 
of  intellectual  relations." 

"Only  that  knowledge  furthers  the  ripening  of  the 
mind  which  mounts  up  through  its  own  activity  and 
effort  from  the  perception  and  contemplation  of  external 
objects  to  the  thoughts  or  the  conceptions  which  dwell 
in  things.  Only  through  a  gradual  climbing  up  on  the 
ladder  of  knowledge  does  the  child's  mind  rise  out  of 
its  own  darkness  to  the  light  of  its  own  consciousness. 
Only  from  the  antitype  which  makes  objective  the  child's 
own  inner  being  can  this  consciousness  be  gained  clearly. 
So  that  the  A  B  C  of  things  must  precede  the  A  B  C  of 
words,  and  give  to  the  words  (abstractions)  their  true 
foundations." 

"  It  is  because  these  foundations  fail  so  often  in  the 
present  time  that  there  are  so  few  men  who  think  in- 
dependently, and  express  skilfully  their  inborn,  divine 
ideas.  The  instruction  forced  upon  the  child's  mind, 
which  does  not  correspond  to  its  inner  stage  of  devel- 
opment and  its  measure  of  power,  robs  him  of  his  own 
original  view  of  things,  and  with  it  of  his  greatest  power 
and  capacity  to  impress  the  stamp  of  his  own  individ- 
uality upon  his  being.  Hence  arises  a  departure  from 
nature  which  leads  to  caricature,"  etc.* 

So  obscure  and  difficult  to  understand  were  Froebel's 

*  What  is  quoted  here  is  only  for  those  initiated  into  Froebel's  system, 
and  is  referred  for  explanation  to  my  writings,  particularly  to  that  which 
treats  of  the  method.  It  has  found  no  other  relevance  here  than  so  far  as 
it  concerns  the  relation  mentioned. 


10  REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL. 

distinctions,  and  so  much  veiled  was  his  "Idea"  by  his 
peculiar  mode  of  speech,  that  one  could  cull  out  the 
peculiar  meaning  of  it  only  after  one  had  penetrated 
his  method  of  intuition  (Anschauungsweise).  Single 
lightning  flashes  often  illuminated  the  dark  way,  and 
the  truth  which  he  himself  received  pre-eminently  by 
inspiration  was  communicated  to  his  hearers  also  in- 
tuitively as  it  were. 

I  had  many  opportunities  to  notice  his  intercourse 
with  the  princes  of  Meiningen  and  Weimar,  whom  I 
had  interested  in  him  and  his  subject,  and  who  often 
accompanied  me  in  my  visits  to  him.  He  was  truly 
modest,  but  it  was  a  marked  trait  of  character  in  him 
that  he  felt  his  dignity  as  a  man  and  his  own  importance 
personally  as  the  bearer  of  an  idea.  Real  appreciation, 
however,  easily  misled  him  to  take  for  granted  the  full 
recognition  of  his  "  divine  idea,"  and,  rejoicing  in  that, 
he  could  undoubtedly  appear  arrogant  and  boastful  to 
those  who  did  not  know  that  he  never  looked  upon  the 
idea  as  his  own,  but  regarded  himself  only  as  the  God- 
favored  bearer  of  it ;  but  the  haughtiness  of  mediocrity 
was  wholly  foreign  to  him. 

Therefore  I  was  often  vexed  when  some  of  the  fre- 
quenters of  the  baths  of  Liebenstein,  whom  I  took  to 
see  him,  allowed  themselves  to  treat  him,  on  account 
of  the  plainness  of  his  external  appearance,  which  was 
not  unlike  that  of  an  old  village  schoolmaster,  in  -his 
old-fashioned  long  coat,  with  his  hair  parted,  and  of  the 
childlike  simplicity  of  his  manners,  with  a  degree  of 
contempt,  or  indeed  as  an  inferior !  But  he  was  seldom 
moved  by  what  concerned  himself  personally,  though 
very  much  so  by  everything  that  undervalued  or  slighted 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FRQEBEL.  II 

his  cause.  When  in  conversation  touching  his  idea,  any 
learned  scholasticism  undertook  to  condemn  it  without 
having  arrived  at  any  understanding  of  it,  a  violent  in- 
dignation was  kindled  in  him.  When  he  had  taken  for 
granted  a  capacity  to  understand  him,  and  yet  met  a 
motiveless  opposition,  he  could  come  crashing  in,  as  I 
experienced  in  one  case,  when  he  defended  the  truth  of 
his  views  like  an  enraged  lion. 


' 
CHAPTER    II. 

FROEBEL   IN   LIEBENSTEIN. 

WOULD  that  men  did  not  always  demand  of  ge- 
niuses who  bring  the  Great  and  Good  into  the 
world,  that  with  this  extraordinary  gift  they  should  unite 
all  human  perfections !  This  unreasonable  requisition 
often  causes  them  to  be  misunderstood  and  calumniated 
when  it  is  discovered  that  as  men  they  do  not  always 
stand  upon  the  height  of  their  genius.  We  forget  that 
the  heavenly  light  hardly  ever  illuminates  to  its  pos- 
sessor anything  but  the  field  whereon  he  is  to  build, 
but  cannot  penetrate  through  the  whole  mind ;  and  by 
the  side  of  the  divine  inspiration  the  natural  power 
stands  as  yet  unpenetrated  by  the  light,  which  leaves 
room  also  for  the  unspiritualized  powers  (damonisches) 
and  likewise  for  human  weaknesses. 

Froebel  was  no  exception  to  this  rule,  and  not  only  in 
his  lifetime,  but  even  now,  after  his  death,  has  had  to 
suffer  from  manifold  unjust  judgments,  among  which  are 


12  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

those  of  some  of  his  earlier  pupils  in  Keilhau-(i8i7- 
27),  who  cannot  complain  enough  of  what  they  call  the 
defects  of  some  of  his  branches  of  instruction,  without 
considering  all  that  stood  in  the  way  of  bringing  his 
method  immediately  into  complete  working  order.  /ffhe 
new  always  stands  in  opposition  to  established  claims, 
and  has  first  to  clear  the  ground  of  what  has  become  ~" 
")  obsolete  before  it  can  be  effective,  (in  the  introduction 
*  of  new  ideas,  their  representatives  pay  no  regard  to  men 
and  things  that  oppose  them,  and  therefore  often  wound 
sensibly  even  those  who  are  dearest) 

Froebel  often  made  his  friends  and  relatives  suffer 
when  their  views  and  interests  did  not  harmonize  with 
what  he  considered  necessary  or  best  for  the  good  of  his 
idea.  But  one  must  in  this  respect  discriminate  between 
the  lack  of  sound  judgment  in  a  matter  of  human  inter- 
est, and  that  in  a  matter  which  serves  the  end  of  self- 
seeking,  the  latter  being  the  chief  motive  with  the 
majority  of  mortals.  This  vulgar  self-seeking  is  never 
known  to  the  real  genius,  the  genuine  bearer  of  an  idea, 
for  he  must  offer  himself  »as  a  sacrifice  on  the  altar  of 
this  idea.  Through  his  whole  life  Froebel  sacrificed 
himself  and  his  personal  interests,  also  the  interests  of 
those  nearest  to  him,  to  the  development  and  propa- 
gation of  his  idea,  and  knew  no  other  striving.  This 
should  not  be  forgotten  by  those  who  have  to  complain 
of  him  for  some  loss  of  their  own. 

In  Keilhau,  Froebel  could  only  make  experiments  in 
order  to  get  necessary  data  for  the  working  out  of  this 
educational  idea.  The  idea  itself  was  grasped  by  him 
at  first  only  in  the  germ,  and  was  still  unripe,  as  well  as 
the  means  of  its  accomplishment.  In  the  process  of 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  13 

fermentation  towards  a  new  form  in  which  Froebel  found 
himself,  he  could  not,  in  full  measure,  fulfil  all  the  duties 
of  the  practical  teacher,  any  more  than  could  Pestalozzi 
or  others  of  his  predecessors.  Therefore  some  com- 
plaints of  his  pupils  as  to  gaps  in  their  knowledge  may 
be  quite  justified,  since,  moreover,  the  time  for  instruction 
was  much  curtailed  by  the  practical  labors  superadded, 
and  by  excursions  in  the  fields  and  woods  of  Keilhau. 
Yet,  not  to  be  unjust,  the  gain  in  respect  to  the  forma- 
tion of  character  and  practical  ability  must  be  thrown 
into  the  balance.  How  very  much  Froebel  did  influence 
the  moral  culture  of  his  pupils  is  made  public  by  the 
unbounded  love  and  gratitude  expressed  by  the  majority 
of  them  at  the  time  of  his  death.  Even  on  this  side  it 
is  to  be  observed  that  his  peculiar  mission  did  not  have 
reference  to  the  improvement  of  instruction,  which  had 
already  been  turned  into  the  true  path  by  Pestalozzi,  but 
rather  consisted  in  creating  a  new  foundation  for  edu- 
cation in  general,  and  consequently  in  working  more 
indirectly  for  the  reform  of  instruction.  The  new  truth 
concerning  the  nature  of  childhood  which  he  brought 
out  cannot  be  without  influence  upon  all  branches  of 
education,  and  here  it  was  that  Froebel  knew  no  yielding 
whenever  the  jewel  of  the  truth  intrusted  to  him  was 
questioned  or  attacked. 

But  on  the  other  hand,  he  would  confess  ignorance  in 
the  most  childlike  manner,  when  the  application  of  his 
idea  touched  points  not  yet  considered  by  him.  He 
frequently  said,  upon  such  occasions,  "  I  have  not  yet 
considered  that  side  of  the  subject ;  I  will  see ;  it  may 
be  so  "  :  or,  "  That  is  new,  but  it  must  be  right,  and  we 
must  work  it  out,"  etc.  He  would  even  learn  from  chil- 


14  REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL. 

dren,  —  or  others, — for  he  was  wholly  free  from  that  pride 
of  knowledge  which  covers  so  much  emptiness.  One 
day  when  I  visited  him,  he  said,  his  eyes  lighting  up, 
"  To-day  is  a  good  day  ;  much  that  is  new  has  come  to 
me ;  almost  every  morning  when  I  wake  this  comes  to 
me  uncalled  for,  but  to-day  it  was  especially  bright  and 
clear.  Yes,  this  truth  is  endless,  and  cannot  be  ex- 
hausted by  thought." 

/  It  was  generally  extremely  difficult  to  hold  him  fast  to 
one  train  o'f  thought,  for  if  a  new  thought  struck  him  he 
/often  followed  it  up  without  any  regard  for  his  particular 
'theme,  and  without  any  consideration  for  his  hearers. 
He  was  always  learning  himself  as  he  spoke,  and  there- 
fore the  logic  of  his  discourse  suffered  exceedingly,  so 
that  he  gave  to  many  the  impression  of  disorderliness  of 
thought.  Added  to  this,  his  peculiar  manner  of  expres- 
sion, the  doubling  and  trebling  of  words  in  order  to 
make  the  matter  clear,  the  often  endless  interweaving  of 
sentences,  —  all  this  made  him  quite  unintelligible  to  the 
ordinary  public,  and  especially  to  women. 

Sometimes  at  Liebenstein,  when  I  introduced  strangers 
to  him  to  whom  he  tried  to  explain  his  method  without 
succeeding  according  to  his  wish,  he  would  call  on  me 
with  the  request  to  explain  this  or  that,  with  the  words, 
"  They  understand  you  better." 

Now  and  then  the  word  "confusion,"  or  something 
similar,  fell  from  the  lips  of  his  hearers,  but  the  great 
majority  of  them  were  won  by  the  power  of  the  deep 
conviction  which  expressed  itself  in  every  word,  even 
before  a  real  understanding  of  the  subject  was  possible. 
The  great  majority  of  women,  especially,  could  not  avoid 
being  moved  when  he  so  strongly  appealed  to  the  mater- 
nal feeling. 


REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL.  15 

Before  Froebel  was  convinced  of  my  deep  interest  in 
his  cause  and  of  my  understanding  of  it,  there  were  mo- 
ments of  doubt  and  distrust  on  his  part.  He  had  been 
deceived  so  often,  both  in  his  expectations  of  a  correct 
comprehension  of  his  method,  and  in  the  assistance 
promised  him  for  the  purpose  of  its  introduction,  that  he 
feared  dilettanteism,  and  a  quickly  blazing  fire  of  straw, 
and  would  sometimes  unjustly  take  these  for  granted. 
Only  after  I  had  written  several  anonymous  articles  for 
public  journals  which  he  used  to  praise  beyond  their 
desert,  and  after  our  intercourse  had  convinced  him  of 
the  earnestness  of  my  interest,  was  I  unreservedly  initi- 
ated into  the  subject. 

After  I  had  accepted  Froebel's  educational  method 
in  respect  to  its  pedagogical   principles  and   practical 
means,  I  still  lacked  the  final  basis  and  point  of  depart- 
ure of  his  views.     I  begged  him  to  disclose  to  me  in  full  / 
the  deeper  basis  of  his  theory  of  the  world ;  he  replied  :  ( 
"  NOj  my_ lasMvord_I  take  with  me^  into  the  grave  ;  the] 
time  for  it  has  not  yet  come." 

In  vain  I  urged  on  him  the  duty  of  uttering  this  last 
word,  even  if  not  publicly,  until  one  day  at  my  house  he 
read  some  leaves  of  an  old  manuscript  and  begged  per- 
mission to  take  with  him  the  volume  containing  them. 
When  I  went  to  see  him  the  next  day  he  said :  "  Now 
you  shall  know  my  last  word ;  I  have  been  reading  in 
your  book  nearly  the  whole  night,  and  see  that  you  have 
my  idea  and  therefore  will  not  misunderstand  me." 

Although  he  construed  several  general  theories  in  the 
sense  of  his  idea  when  he  found  related  ideas  of  others, 
yet  he  had  found  in  mine  some  nearly  related  original 
views  of  things  which  facilitated  a  deeper  penetration  into 


l6  REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL. 

his  idea,  and  supplied  me  by  degrees  with  the  proper 
key  for  the  understanding  of  it.  His  explanations  alone 
could  not  bring  this  about ;  they  were  too  aphoristic  and 
unintelligible  in  expression.  Only  a  longer  study  and 
my  own  working  led  in  the  course  of  years  to  that, 
and  even  then  only  to  the  first  beginnings  of  the  un- 
derstanding of  an  idea  which  still  needs  centuries  for 
its  development  and  maturity,  —  an  idea  which  Froebel 
received  from  the  hands  of  his  predecessors  as  a  seed 
from  the  flowers  of  the  past,  and  which  he  left  to  the 
present  only  in  germ,  so  that  legions  of  thinkers  of  the 
following  age  and  in  different  departments  may  develop 
it  and  bring  it  to  maturity  as  an  element  of  the  general 
idea  of  the  time.  The  present  has  only  to  make  the 
first  practical  application  to  the  child  in  the  cradle  and 
in  the  garden  of  children,  and  thus  to  prepare  the  ground 
for  future  generations,  which  alone  can  complete  what 
the  present  has  begun. 

The  reproach  of  mysticism  applied  to  Froebel's  system 
has  a  certain  justification  so  long  as  the  theory  lying 
at  the  foundation  of  his  educational  idea  is  not  com- 
pletely understood  and  scientifically  established ;  and 
thus  far  there  is  little  prospect  that  this  will  really  hap- 
pen very  soon,  since  the  great  mass  of  the  representatives 
of  the  cause  can  only  comprehend  its  outside.  The 
conflicts  of  the  present  must  bring  more  of  the  problems 
of  the  time  nearer  to  their  solution  before  the  solution 
of  this  problem  which  concerns  mankind  most  deeply 
can  come  upon  the  stage.  In  spite  of  the  slight  under- 
standing of  his  idea  that  Froebel  found  in  his  contem- 
poraries, he  was  thoroughly  convinced  that  the  time  for  it 
would  come. 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  17 

"  If  three  hundred  years  after  my  death  my  method  , 
of  education  shall  be  completely  established  according  > 
to  its  idea,  I  shall  rejoice  in  heaven,"  he  replied  to  me  ) 
once  when  I  was  lamenting  over  its  slow  and  imperfect  / 
advance. 

Froebel  found  in  Liebenstein  a  haven  of  rest  for  his 
last  days.  The  residence  in  large  cities  had  always  been 
harassing  and  irksome  to  him. 

"  I  was  born  for  country  life  and  intercourse  with 
nature,"  he  declared  very  truly.  He  did  not  understand 
the  language  of  the  great  world.  Literary  culture,  ac- 
cording to  the  prescription  of  faculties  and  authorities, 
was  foreign  to  his  self-taught  and  original  fashion  of 
thought,  and  he  was  ill  fitted  for  the  discussion  of  the 
claims  of  science  in  this  or  that  department.  Still  less 
was  he  fitted  for  the  conflicts  with  intrigue,  vulgarity, 
and  malevolence  which  met  him  in  the  great  centres. 
Therefore  he  was  happy  to  have  escaped  them  when  he. 
arranged  his  farm-house  near  Liebenstein,  after  he  had 
given  a  course  of  instruction  to  kindergartners  in  Dres- 
den the  winter  before. 

Here  he  was  again  surrounded  by  the  home  atmos- 
phere of  Thuringia,  and  by  beautiful  nature,  with  which  he 
had  always  held  his  most  intimate  and  comforting  com- 
munion ;  and  his  trustful,  receptive  young,  scholars  gave 
him  an  opportunity  to  state  his  method  without  meeting 
with  opposition  from  an  imperfect  knowledge  of  the  sub- 
ject. Here  he  was  able  to  lay  the  foundation  for  the 
general  education  of  the  female  sex,  —  the  educational 
vocation,  —  and  every  one  who  attended  his  instructions 
must  have  seen  how  the  happiness  that  inspired  him  was 
reflected  in  the  enthusiasm  of  his  pupils. 


1 8  REMINISCENCES  OF   FROEBEL. 

• 

The  interest  in  his  cause  shown  by  the  princes  of 
Meiningen  and  Weimar,  especially  by  her  Highness,  my 
patroness  and  friend,  the  Duchess  Ida  of  Weimar,  who 
so  often  accompanied  me  to  Froebel's  institution,  re- 
newed his  courage.  I  was  obliged  to  mediate  with  the 
gracious  and  amiable  princess  for  much  that  Froebel 
wished  for  in  the  interest  of  his  cause.  Through  her  a 
suitable  location  was  at  last  obtained  for  his  institution. 

On  a  walk  which  I  once  took  with  him  we  came,  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Liebenstein,  upon  the  small  ducal 
shooting-castle  of  Mariehthal,  charmingly  situated  among 
the  green  fields.  Froebel  stood  still,  and  said,  "  Look 
round  about  you,  Frau  Marenholz.  This  would  be  a 
beautiful  place  for  our  institution,  and  even  the  name 
would  suit  it  so  well,  —  Marienthal,  the  vale  of  the  Maryjs, 
whom  we  wish  to  bring  up  as  the  mothers  of  humanity, 
as  the  first  Mary  brought  up  the  Saviour  of  the  world." 

I  remarked  to  him  that  he  might  petition  the  duke  to 
grant  him  the  building  which  was  standing  unused,  and 
that  I  would  endeavor  to  assist  him  in  the  matter  through 
the  Duchess  Ida.  So  it  came  to  pass,  yet  only  after  a 
long  delay,  since  many  objections  were  raised  by  the 
authorities.  Through  the  continual  prompting  of  her 
brother  by  the  duchess  this  end  was  reached  only  after 
months.  I  had  the  pleasure  of  surprising  Froebel  with 
the  official  permission  after  he  had  almost  given  up  the 
hope.  One  circumstance  contributed  to  bring  about  this 
permission  sooner,  by  making  still  more  clear  to  the 
duchess  the  in  appropriateness  of  the  farm-house  inhab- 
ited by  Froebel. 

Froebel  had  been  invited  with  me  to  dine  with  the 
duchess,  and  had  put  on  a  coat  which  had  been  laid 


REMINISCENCES  OF   FROEBEL.  19 

away  for  a  long  time  in  a  closet  immediately  contiguous 
to  the  cow-house,  and  the  coat  was  completely  penetrated 
with  the  odor  of  the  stable.  As  this  odor  also  perme- 
ated the  instruction-room,  from  which  a  small  door 
opened  into  the  cow-house,  Froebel  had  not  perceived 
it  himself,  being  accustomed  to  it,  but  the  duchess  noticed 
it  as  soon  as  she  came  into  the  dining-room.  Thinking 
the  smell  came  from  out  of  doors  through  the  window, 
she  had  it  closed.  The  smell  still  remained.  On  inform- 
ing her  of  the  cause  in  a  whisper,  she  was  much  amused, 
and  so  were  the  young  princesses  her  daughters.  Froe- 
bel joined  heartily  when  we  told  him  the  cause  of  our 
hilarity,  and  said,  "  Your  Highness  sees  now  how  neces- 
>  sary  it  is  to  remove  our  institution  to  Marienthal." 

After  dinner  the  now  reigning  Grand  Duke  of  Weimar, 
then  heir  presumptive,  came  in  with  his  wife  and  several 
ladies  and  gentlemen  to  visit  the  duchess,  and  Froebel 
was  requested  to  make  a  statement  of  his  idea  to  them. 
I  begged  him  to  speak  clearly  and  briefly,  as  was  appro- 
priate, and  was  astonished  at  his  unwonted  success ; 
indeed,  he  spoke  with  an  enthusiasm  that  moved  all  his 
hearers.  The  duke,  whom  I  had  already,  during  his  fre- 
quent visits  to  Liebenstein,  made  acquainted  with  Froe- 
bel's  cause,  and  who  had  been  present  at  the  plays  of 
the  children  in  the  institution,  retracted  his  former  cen- 
sure of  Froebel's  obscure  style. 

"  He  speaks  like  a  prophet,"  he  said  now. 

This  expression  of  acknowledgment  pleased  Froebel 
greatly.  He  said  to  me,  "  Do  you  know  what  warmed 
me  up  so  much  to-day  ?  The  beautiful  harmony  of  the 
architecture  of  that  dining-hall !  I  felt  as  if  I  were  in  a 
temple ! " 


20  REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL. 

The  marble  pillars  which  supported  the  vaulted  roof 
had  made  an  impression  on  his  artistic  eyes.  I  con- 
stantly observed  this  feeling  for  harmony  and  beauty  in 
Froebel,  who  had  not  been  educated  to  the  practice  of 
any  art.  In  nature,  nothing  escaped  him  ;  every  tree 
which  embellished  the  surrounding  country,  every  grace- 
ful curved  line,  every  blending  of  color,  every  lighting 
up  of  the  heavens,  everything,  indeed,  which  expressed 
beauty  and  harmony,  was  perceived  by  him,  and  often 
served,  on  our  walks  with  the  scholars,  for  some  deep 
interpretation  of  nature,  and  some  enthusiastic  praise  of 
God's  creation,  which  made  an  indelible  impression 
upon  them.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  smallest  want 
of  harmony  was  annoying  to  him. 

"  I  miss  harmony  of  color  here,"  he  said  once  as  we 
were  passing  a  bed  of  dahlias  in  which  all  the  colors 
were  confusedly  mingled. 

This  sharpness  and  fineness  of  sense  extended  to  all 

*<MW 

his  organs.  At  great  distances  he  perceived  the  per- 
fume of  plants  and  viands  and  wines.  I  looked  upon 
this  as  a  proof  of  how  he  was  fitted  by  nature  in  all 
respects  for  the  mission  with  which  he  was  charged  from 
God.  Even  the  facility  of  speech  denied  to  him,  and  his 
lack  of  literary  expression,  co-operated  to  the  same  end. 
It  is  not  likely  that  he  would  have  known  how  to  em- 
body his  ideas  in  matter  so  completely,  if  he  had  been 
able  to  make  himself  entirely  intelligible  in  words.  A 
certain  one-sidedness  and  even  limitation  is  often  neces- 
sary to  a  reforming  genius  in  order  to  keep  him  within 
the  limits  of  his  calling,  and  prevent  him  from  wander- 
ing away  from  it.  Universal  geniuses  are  rare,  and  Froe- 
bel in  no  way  belonged  to  them.  But  in  spite  of  this 


REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL.  21 

undeniable  gift  of  prophecy,  Froebel  had  a  warm  heart 
for  his  fellow-men,  irrespective  of  his  work,  and  helped 
wherever  he  could  with  the  same  disinterestedness  as 
that  with  which  he  served  his  idea. 

Middendorff  told  me  this  little  anecdote.  Froebel 
•came  home  one  day  much  heated  by  a  walk  in  the 
neighborhood,  and  wished  to  change  his  clothes.  When 
his  wife  opened  the  wardrobe  she  exclaimed  with  alarm, 
"  The  closet  is  almost  empty !  thieves  have  been  here." 
Froebel  answered,  laughing,  "  I  am  the  thief!  "  And  he 
then  told  her  that  the  inhabitants  of  a  neighboring  vil- 
lage which  had  been  destroyed  by  fire  had  been  there  that 
morning  and  asked  for  assistance,  and  as  he  had  no 
money,  he  had  felt  obliged  to  give  them  some  of  his 
effects.  This  warm  heart  was  often  concealed  under  a 
harsh  and  rude  exterior,  which  is  usually  the  case  with 
those  who  work  most  deeply,  working  inwardly.  Chil- 
dren are  the  least  disturbed  by  this,  and  know  by  intui- 
tion the  hearts  that  love  them.  When  I  went  with  Froe- 
bel through  the  village  streets,  the  children  of  the  cot- 
tages came  running  to  him  from  the  doorsteps,  as  to 
their  own  father ;  even  the  smallest,  who  had  hardly 
learned  to  walk,  clung  to  him,  and  accompanied  him  to 
some  distance.  With  what  love  he  embraced  the  little 
ones  !  It  shone  from  his  eyes  and  attracted  their  hearts 
magnetically.  It  was  the  love  of  humanity,  whose  germ 
he  beheld  in  the  children.  His  words,  uttered  on  such 
an  occasion,  "  I  see  in  every  child  the  possibility  of  a 
perfect  man,"  made  an  undying  impression  on  me. 

In  Marienthal  I  saw  a  mother  of  two  children  who  had 
attended  Froebel's  kindergarten  for  a  time,  and  had  often 
been  with  him,  come  to  take  leave  at  the  end  of  her  resi- 


22  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

dence  at  Liebenstein.  One  of  the  boys,  five  years  old" 
clung  sobbing  on  Froebel's  neck  and  would  not  go. 
When  the  mother  said  he  might  remain  without  her,  he 
was  quite  willing,  although  he  had  always  shown  great 
love  for  his  mother.  Perhaps  the  child's  spiritual  and  in- 
tellectual wants  had  been  fully  satisfied  here  for  the  first- 
time,  and  he  felt  that  gratification  which  all  development 
brings  to  the  human  soul. 


CHAPTER    III. 

DIESTERWEG  AND   FROEBEL  IN  LIEBENSTEIN. 

IN  July,  1849,  Diesterweg  came  to  Liebenstein.  Im- 
mediately after  the  greeting  with  my  old  friend,  I 
told  him  of  Froebel  and  of  my  acquaintance  with  him, 
and  how  he  went  by  the  cognomen  of  "old  fool,"  at 
which  he  laughed  heartily.  "To-morrow  morning,"  I 
said,  "  you  must  go  with  me  to  Froebel's  class  and  make 
his  acquaintance." 

"  O,  you  must  excuse  me,"  he  replied.  "  I  dislike  fool- 
ery in  methods  of  education." 

But  when  I  had  said  what  was  necessary  to  convince 
him  that  there  was  no  such  "  foolery,"  he  consented  to 
accompany  me  the  next  day  to  Froebel's  dwelling  in  the 
farm-house. 

The  instruction  had  already  begun,  and  Froebel  was 
so  much  absorbed  in  his  subject,  which  was  presented 
with  much  enthusiasm,  that,  as  usual,  he  did  not  observe 
my  entrance  with  Diesterweg  by  the  open  door  behind 


REMINISCENCES    OF    FROEBEL.  23 

him.  Diesterweg  listened  at  first  with  some  irony  on 
his  countenance,  but  by  degrees  this  expression  entirely 
vanished  and  gave  place  to  the  deepest  attention,  and 
at  last  his  emotion  increased  till  it  broke  forth  in  tears. 
Those  who  know  Diesterweg  admit  that  such  an  expres- 
sion of  feeling  could  not  be  drawn  from  him  by  any  every- 
day occurrence. 

When  Froebel  ended  his  lesson  and  I  introduced 
Diesterweg  to  him,  the  latter  greeted  him  with  great 
heartiness,  which  was  the  more  gratifying  to  Froebel 
because  he  had  heard  of  a  previous  expression  of  Dies- 
terweg's  which  did  not  sound  very  favorable  to  his  cause. 
The  two  men  felt  themselves  drawn  together,  as  was 
apparent  on  this  first  interview,  and  Froebel  explained 
his  ideas  enthusiastically  and  with  unusual  clearness, 
and  I  was  obliged  to  remind  Diesterweg  of  the  dining- 
hour,  which  was  about  to  strike,  in  order  to  bring  the 
interview  to  a  close  for  the  time. 

On  our  way  back  Diesterweg  kept  stopping  every 
instant  to  express  to  me  his  great  satisfaction  with  what 
he  had  heard  from  Froebel.  I  felt  in  every  word  he  said, 
how  his  mind,  open  to  everything  noble  and  high,  was 
impressed. 

"The  man  is  actually  something  of  a  seer,"  he  ex- 
claimed. "  He  looks  into  the  innermost  nature  of  the 
child  as  no  one  else  has  done.  I  am  wholly  taken  cap- 
tive by  him." 

"Yes,"  I  replied,  "he  impresses  one  like  all  genuine 
enthusiasm  for  truth  and  human  weal." 

From  that  time,  almost  every  morning,  Diesterweg 
came  under  my  window  with  ther' Mother  and  Cosset 
Songs "  , under  his  arm,  calling  out  to  me,  "  Frau  von 


24  REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL. 

Marenholz,  it  is  time  to  go  to  school ! "  And  as  often"  as 
possible  we  went  to  walk  with  Froebel  in  the  afternoons, 
to  converse  upon  "  the  Idea "  or  other  views.  In  bad 
weather  the  two  educators  generally  came  to  my  house, 
and  we  held  a  council  to  consider  how  the  new  educa- 
tional method  could  be  furthered.  Diesterweg  requested 
of  me  a  first  article  for  his  "  Weg  Weiser,"  which  he  had 
after  two  days,  and  which  Froebel  enjoyed  even  to  tears, 
in  spite  of  its  trifling  importance. 

The  name  of  "  Eisel  and  Beisel "  given  us  by  one  of 
the  guests  at  Liebenstein,  in  harmless  fun,  spread  more 
widely  and  gave  occasion  to  the  Princess  Amalia,  daugh- 
ter of  the  Duchess  Ida,  afterwards  Princess  Henry  of 
Netherlands,  to  bestow  a  more  fitting  appellation,  as 
she  said.  As  I  was  added  as  the  third  in  the  group,  we 
were  named,  within  our  private  circle  of  intimacy,  after 
the  Bible  expression,  "The  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the 
Life." 

One  afternoon  when  we  were  together,  Diesterweg 
received  a  letter  from  Berlin  concerning  the  projected 
Goethe  foundation,  which  was  to  date  from  his  hundredth 
birthday  on  the  28th  of  August  of  that  year  (1849),  f°r 
which  purpose  committees  had  been  organized  in  various 
cities.  Diesterweg  was  a  member  of  the  Berlin  commit- 
tee, and  told  us  how  various  were  the  views  concerning 
the  object  of  the  foundation.  I  suggested  an  educa- 
tional institution  for  the  culture  of  genius,  since  the 
unfettering  of  the  powers  of  genius  in  mankind  was  the 
best  tribute  that  could  be  paid  to  Goethe's  memory. 

At  first  Diesterweg  laughed,  but  after  thinking  awhile 
said,  "  It  is  not  a  bad  idea.  At  the  present  time  it  will 
be  for  the  advancement  of  the  people,  and  it  will  also 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  25 

promote  art.  Donations  for  young  artists  are  already 
proposed." 

We  conversed  further  on  the  subject,  and  Froebel,  who 
had  at  first  kept  perfectly  silent,  kindled  more  and  more 
as  the  plan  was  discussed,  and  said,  "What  if  you,  Frau 
von  Marenholz,  should  try  to  win  over  the  Grand  Duke 
of  Weimar  for  our  idea  ?  As  honorary  president  of  the 
Weimar  committee  he  would  have  much  weight." 

I  promised  to  undertake  this  commission,  and  found 
a  willing  listener  in  the  prince,  who  was  always  enthusi- 
astic for  everything  beautiful  and  good.  Soon  we  had 
the  Grand  Duke,  the  Duchess  Ida,  the  Princess  Amalia, 
and  others  of  the  nobility  of  Weimar  interested  in  our 
plan,  which  devoted  the  Goethe  foundation  to  an  edu- 
cational institution,  where  those  children  who"  should 
manifest  artistic  gifts  of  a, high  order  in  the  kinder- 
garten that  was  to  be  connected  with  it  should  be  fur- 
nished a  complete  education  in  the  art  for  which  they 
should  show  talent. 

Diesterweg  wrote  a  little  essay,  entitled  "The  Goethe 
Foundation,"  and  la"  Summons  "  for  the  newspapers, 
in  order  to  gain  general  concurrence  in  our  plan. 

Diesterweg  said  in  his  article  :  "  We  consecrate  this 
institution  to  general  human  culture,  and  to  art  in  par- 
ticular. A  foundation  worthy  of  Goethe  must  be  crea- 
tive and  productive  at  once,  that  is,  it  shall  cultivate 
men  into  productive  beings,  who  shall  bring  forth  new 
creations  in  the  field  of  art."  And  again  :  "  What  might 
not  be  the  consequences  if  the  dominion  of  acquired 
dead  notions,  and  that  intellectual  servitude  which  has 
been  propagated  from  generation  to  generation  hitherto, 
could  be  completely  banished,  and  man  become  once 


26  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

more  his  own  teacher  and  his  own  educator  ? "     "  What  ( 
Pestalozzi  strove  for  his  whole  life  long,  —  the  restora- 
tion of  the  sanctity  of  family  life,  the  training  of  mothers  / 
to  their  educational  vocation,  the  guidance  and  culture  , 
of  women  in  general  that  they  may  take  the  fitting  point 
of  view  for  the  educators  of  the  human  race,  —  this  is 
what  he  has  accomplished,  and  for  this  he  has  found  } 
practical  means,"  etc. 

These  words  are  significant  of  Diesterweg's  high  rec- 
ognition of  Froebel  and  his  cause.  Froebel  also  added 
to  this  paper  the  following  lines  :  — 

"  It  is  to  be  stated  with  special  emphasis  that,  although 
art  in  its  ideality  is  a  pure  end  of  itself,  it  is  not  dis- 
graced by  becoming  a  means  of  education.  If  the  human 
race,  above  all  the  German  nation,  is  to  be  brought  to 
perfect  living  and  likewise  to  the  appreciation  and  the 
expression  of  art,  the  arts,  as  the  ripe  product  of  crea- 
tiveness,  must  be  protected  by  an  educational  system 
whose  fundamental  idea  shall  be  to  contemplate  and 
treat  man  as  a  creative  being.  And  therefore  this  edu- 
cational system  is  worthy  of  being  named  as  the  object 
of  a  Goethe  foundation."  . 

This  object  especially  occupied  us  for  a  long  time, 
and  there  was  some  prospect  of  a  favorable  result.  Nev- 
ertheless, this  result  was  not  reached.  The  majority  of 
the  members  of  the  various  committees  knew  too  little 
of  Froebel's  methods  to  accept  and  efficiently  support 
the  proposals  made  by  the  Grand  Duke  in  Weimar  and 
Diesterweg  in  Berlin.  The  decisive  majorities  in  such 
cases  opposed  ;  these  majorities  unfortunately  do  much 
harm  to  intellectual  interests,  since  ideal  aims  can  hardly 
be  appreciated  except  by  minorities. 


REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL.  27 

At  the  end  of  August  Diesterweg  and  I  came,  by 
invitation  of  the  Duchess  of  Weimar,  to  celebrate  the 
hundredth  birthday  of  Goethe,  and  found  the  decision 
was  already  made.  The  money  collected  for  the  pur- 
pose of  the  foundation  to  Goethe  was  devoted  to  the 
aid  of  young  artists  of  slender  means.  Through  Liszt's 
influence  in  Weimar,  the  donations  were  specially  be- 
stowed upon  musical  artists.  My  struggles  against  it, 
during  a  visit  on  which  we  met  at  the  Grand  Duke's 
castle  at  Ettersburg,  were  all  in  vain.  Liszt  ever  re- 
peated that  "  One  could  not  help  genius  yet  in  its  swad- 
dling-clothes." It  was  not  till  a  later  time  that  I  could 
convince  him  of  the  importance  of  Froebel's  method  ; 
then  he  promised  he  would  compose  songs  for  the  kin- 
dergarten, a  promise  which  yet  awaits  its  fulfilment. 

Froebel,  accustomed  during  his  whole  life  to  the  dis- 
appointment of  cherished  hopes,  knew  how  to  comfort 
himself  for  the  miscarriage  of  our  plans.  Besides  his 
gratification  at  the  fulfilment  of  another  wish,  he  had 
joyfully  informed  me  already  in  July,  that  he  expected 
one  of  his  earlier  Keilhau  pupils  (Fraulein  Levin),  who 
would  remain  with  him  to  undertake  the  permanent 
direction  of  his  household  and  institution.  Soon  after 
she  arrived,  and  (as  Froebel  expressed  it)  gave  to  his 
institution  the  stamp  of  family  life,  which  in  his  view 
was  of  the  highest  importance  to  an  institution  for  edu- 
cation. 

With  truly  paternal  love  Froebel  embraced  all  his 
pupils,  who  on  their  part  felt  the  greatest  love  and 
gratitude  to  him.  These  affectionate  relations  in  the 
institution  touched  every  one  agreeably  who  entered 
Marienthal,  and  awakened  the  sympathies  even  of  those 


28  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

standing  farther  off;  and  these  sympathies  were  more 
and  more  strengthened  in  the  walks  taken  in  common  in 
the  beautiful  environs  of  Liebenstein. 

When  I  once  expressed  to  Froebel  how  much  I  enjoyed 
the  feeling  of  real  familiarity  that  I  found  in  our  circle, 
he  said,  "Yes,  you  see  that  it  is  only  possible  where 
there  is  an  idea  to  bind  us  together ;  only  an  idea  can 
make  us  spiritually  one." 

He  said  this  in  a  drive  which  we  took  to  Inselsberg  in 
company  with  his  pupils  and  Diesterweg.  We  did  not 
return  until  night,  and  then  in  a  wagon.  The  clear, 
bright,  starry  heavens  prompted  Froebel  to  point  out  the 
constellations  to  his  pupils,  and  to  speak  of  the  system 
of  worlds  sparkling  above  us.  He  said,  among  other 
things  :  "  The  firmament,  if  anything,  leads  us  to  recog- 
nize the  connection  of  all  that  is,  and  leads  us  up  to 
unity — God.  No  one  of  the  heavenly  bodies  is  isolated, 
every  planet  has  its  centre  in  the  sun  of  its  system.  All 
the  solar  systems  are  in  relation  and  continual  interac- 
tion with  each  other.  That  is  the  condition  of  all  life. 
Everywhere  mutual  relation  of  parts.  As  there  above  in 
great  things  an  unbroken  connection  and  harmony  rule, 
so  also  here  below,  even  in  the  smallest  thing,  every- 
where is  the  same  order  and  harmony,  because  the  same 
law  rules  everywhere,  the  one  law  of  God,  which  ex- 
presses itself  in  thousand-fold  many-sidedness,  but  in  the 
last  analysis  is  one,  for  God  is  himself  the  law.  The 
heavenly  bodies  are  organized  like  the  grains  of  sand,  — 
the  macrocosm  and  the  microcosm  correspond  to  each 
other  exactly ;  both  are  organized  wholes,  but  the  organ- 
ization rules  from  the  simplest  to  the  most  complex. 
Everywhere  in  God's  creation,  in  the  infinite  manifold- 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  29 

ness  of  phenomena,  we  always  come  upon  unity,  and 
must  infer  it  where  we  do  not  perceive  it.  Unless  unity 
is  continued,  unbroken  connection  is  not  possible." 

Diesterweg  here  said,  "  That  is  what  people  call  Pan- 
theism." 

Froebel  replied  :  "  And  very  unjustly  ;  the  pantheistic 
view  is  outgrown,  and  we  have  nothing  more  to  do  with 
an  inseparable  Unity,  but  with  Trinity.  Trinity  has 
become  the  corner-stone  which  the  people  have  rejected 
because  they  do  not  understand  it.  The  triple  Unity  of 
God  is  obvious  in  all  his  works,  to  eyes  that  can  see.  (  / 
Have  we  not  always  and  everywhere  a  trinity  of  con-) 

1  trasts  and  their  intermedium  ?  And  where  are  the  con- 
trasts which  somewhere  and  somehow  have  not  their 
interrnedium  and  union  ?  These  contrasts,  which  every- 
where appear,  are  the  causes  of  all  movement  in  the  uni- 
verse or  in  the  least  organism  (action  and  reaction). 
Hence  for  all  development  there  is  a  necessary  struggle, 
which  sooner  or  later,  however,  must  find  its  equilibrium. 
This  equilibrium  is  the  intermedium  of  the  contrasts  which 
creates  the  harmony  or  accord  in  all  the  parts  of  a  whole. 

'  This  harmony  is  the  flowering-time  of  every  organism, 
which  is  found  in  the  intellectual  as  well  as  in  the  material 
world.  Does  not  every  plant  show  us  the  connection  of  \  _/ 

;  contrasts,  —  inner  and  outer,  force  and  matter,  cause  and  -j 
operation,  the  visible  and  the  invisible,  etc.  ?  But  I  do 
not  say,  like  the  Pantheists,  that  the  world  is  God's 
body,  that  God  dwells  in  it  as  in  a  house.  But  the  spirit 
of  God  dwells  and  lives  in  nature,  produces,  fosters,  and 
unfolds  everything,  as  the  common  life-principle.  In 
like  manner  the  spirit  of  God  dwells  in  his  work,  pro- 
duces, fosters  and  preserves  it.  As  the  spirit  of  the 


30  REMINISCENCES    OF    FROEBEL. 

artist  is  found  again  in  his  masterpieces,  so  must  we  find 
God's  spirit  (Geist)  in  his  works.* 

"  We  have  to  open  the  eyes  of  our  children,  that  they 
may  learn  to  know  the  Creator  in  his  creations.  Only 
when  they  have  found  or  divined  God  as  the  Creator, 
through  visible  things,  will  they  learn  to  understand 
the  '  Word  of  God,' —  God  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  —  and 
be*  able  to  become  Christians.  First  is  the  visible  world, 
then  the  invisible  truth,  —  the  idea.  These  contrasts  of 
visible  and  invisible  are  to  be  intermediated  (connected) 
for  the  very  young  child,  not  by  words,  only  by  phenom- 
ena, which  at  first  give  him  but  an  impression  of  it. 
My  (^Mother  and  Cosset  Songs')  show  how  this  can  be  3 
done.  [See  the  "  Gilt  Bird,"  the  "  Weather-Cock,"  etc.] 
Through  them  the  mother  learns  how  the  soul  of  the 
child  can  be  prepared  early  for  the  perception  of  truth. 
Without  religious  preparation  in  childhood,  no.  true  re- 
ligion and  no  union  with  God  is  possible  for  men.  Faith 
in  God  is  innate  in  every  man,  every  child  ;  it  has  only 
to  be  awakened  in  the  right  way,  but  it  must  be  awak- 
ened, or  it  remains  dead."  In  this  manner  we  conversed 
for  a  long  time,  and  out  of  all  that  Froebel  said  shone 
the  deepest  trust  in  God,  the  most  sincere  and  religious 
mind.  He  concurred  very  little  with  the  conventional 
religious  training  of  children,  but  he  had  something  of  his 
own  to  put  in  the  place  of  that  to  which  he  did  not  agree. 

Asking  Froebel  why  he  chose  the  tree  especially  to 
symbolize  organization  and  the  universal  process  of  de- 

*  See  further  in  Froebel's  "  Education  of  Man."  It  is  only  possible  here 
to  quote  short  fragments  of  our  conversations,  to  which  I  am  led  by  circum- 
stances of  the  moment.  It  is  of  greater  importance  not  always  to  be  confined 
to  Froebel's  often  obscure  manner  of  expressing  himself. 


.REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL.  31 

velopment  even  in  the  intellectual  world,  he  replied  : 
"  No  more  perfect  representation  of  organic  life  and  the 
mutual  relation  of  its  parts  can  be  found  in  nature  than 
in  a  tree.  The  seed  (unity)  divides  in  the  germ  into 
duality  (difference  or  opposition),  and  all  the  various  stages 
of  development  follow  definitely  and  clearly  to  full  com- 
pletion. The  roots  and  the  crown  are  the  opposite 
equivalents,  for  the  crown  planted  in  the  earth  forms 
roots  because  it  lacks  the  light.  The  roots  turned  up 
and  exposed  to  the  light  form  themselves  into  a  crown. 
These  two  related  opposites  in  the  tree  phenomena  are 
connected  by  the  trunk,  which  contains  within  itself  the 
material  of  the  woody  root,  and  the  sap  which  is  diffused 
through  the  crown.  In  the  articulation  of  the  twigs  and 
\  leaves  we  have  the  type  of  all  articulation,  the  great  and 
I  small  boughs  and  twigs,  even  to  the  mass  of  the  leaves 
connected  with  them  arid  receiving  life  from  them. 

"  In  like  manner  is  expressed  the  necessary  articulation 
of  human  society  and  the  organization  of  the  state.  The 
unity  which  appears  in  all  parts,  from  the  least  to  the 
greatest,  gives  to  the  tree  its  individuality.  For  instance, 
the  peculiar  mellowness  and  delicacy  of  the  odor  of  the 
Linden  is  found  again  in  the  tenderness  of  the  leaf-text- 
ure, in  the  flexibility  and  softness  of  the  wood,  and  also 
of  the  roots  ;  every  part  expresses  the  same  characteris- 
tic •  even  the  taste  of  the  blossoms  and  leaves.  On  the 
contrary,  the  oak  expresses  an  opposite  character.  Every- 
thing in  that  bears  the  mark  of  power  and  concentration, 
—  the  gnarled  root,  the  bark  of  the  trunk,  the  thick,  firm 
substance  of  the  wood,  the  hardness  of  the  leaves,  and 
the  acrid  taste  of  the  fruit.  Both  of  the  trees  bear  the 
common  marks  of  their  kind,  the  universal  of  the  tree, 
but  each  in  its  mode,  that  is,  the  particular. 


32  REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL. 

"  Thus  we  see  unity  (that  which  is  common  to  all  the 
parts),  variety  (in  the  diversity  of  the  parts),  and  a  partic- 
ular (the  individual,  expressing  the  personal  character 
of  the  tree)  united  and  clearly  made  evident  in  the  phe- 
nomenon of  the  tree.  On  this  account  it  is  the  most 
expressive  symbol  of  all  organization,  whether  of  natural 
or  of  intellectual  life.  Jesus  also  likened  humanity  to 
the  tree  in  the  expression,  '  the  tree  of  humanity.' " 

These  deeper  aspects  of  Froebel's  idea  and  theory 
could  only  be  drawn  from  him  occasionally ;  but  as  soon 
as  he  touched  upon  the  first  principles  of  his  conception 
of  the  world  on  which  his  educational  idea  rested,  his 
expression  and  his  formula  became  absolutely  precise, 
as  was  shown  in  his  letters  to  myself.  He  also  knew 
how  to  express  himself  in  the  clearest  manner  upon 
Christianity  and  its  most  profound  dogmas.  Concerning 
the  application  of  his  educational  idea  and  the  carrying 
it  out  in  practical  life,  he  was  least  able  to  make  himself 
clear,  because  he  attempted  it  by  means  of  innumerable 
circumlocutions.  One  reason  for  this  lay  in  the  fact  that 
his  mind  was  wholly  occupied  in  a  labor  which  he  was 
far  from  having  completed,  —  a  labor  which  will  require 
many  lives  and  long  years  for  its  consummation.  An- 
other reason  might  be,  that  the  experience  of  seldom  being 
correctly  understood  induced  him  to  add  to  his  already 
peculiar  style  of  speech  frequent  repetitions,  and  various 
expressions  of  the  same  thought,  from  which  the  oppo- 
site of  the  intended  clearness  resulted.  For  this  reason 
chiefly  are  Froebel's  writings  so  little  intelligible  and 
throughout  not  popularly  written ;  at  the  same  time  it 
must  be  remembered  that  new  thoughts  and  new  theo- 
ries cannot  be  made  equally  clear  to  every  one. 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.'  3.3 

Even  Diesterweg  often  found  it  difficult  to  understand 
Froebel's  thoughts,  but  this  great  educator  never  per- 
mitted himself,  like  some  of  his  colleagues,  to  condemn 
Froebel's  cause  and  to  cast  it  aside  because  there  were 
some  things  in  it  that  were  not  clear  to  him.  He  often 
said  to  me,  "  What  I  understand  of  Froebel's  idea  is 
enough  to  prevent  me  from  rejecting  a  subject  many 
sides  of  which  have  been  but  little  worked  out.  There 
is  much  still  to  be  made  clear  in  the  matter.  The  mate- 
rial already  prepared  for  its  practical  application  is  excel- 
lent. In  that  Froebel's  thought  is  expressed  clearly.  It 
must  be  further  worked  out  into  the  school  where  Froe- 
bel  and  Pestalozzi  meet." 

Sometimes  when  I  urged  upon  Diesterweg  that  he 
should  study  more  deeply  Froebel's  method  and  means 
of  work,  in  order  to  explain  their  application  in  his 
writings,  he  replied,  "  That  is  not  for  me,  but  for  others, 
to  do.  I,  as  a  schoolman,  have  my  problem  to  solve  in 
regard  to  Pestalozzi,"  (and  who  will  assert  that  he  has 
not  solved  it  ?)  He  also  said,  "  It  is  for  women  — 
mothers  and  kindergartners  —  to  carry  out  Froebel's 
method  in  its  practical  application  to  earliest  childhood. 
Their  fitness  to  direct  in  this  first  step  of  education  is 
recognized  ;  then  comes  the  second  step,  the  fusing  of 
it  with  Pestalozzi's  method  for  the  school.  But  I  am 
too  old  to  undertake  this.  I  already  have  more  work 
than  I  have  strength  for.  To  each  his  own.  But  I  will 
help  in  single  cases,  if  you  will  tell  me  where  and  how." 

Froebel  and  Diesterweg  were  contrasts  not  only  in 
personal  appearance  ;  their  mental  gifts  and  their  em- 
ployment of  them  showed  a  certain  contrast.  Froebel's 
long,  lean  form  was  the  opposite  of  Diesterweg's  short, 


34  REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL. 

broad,  and  thick-set  body.  Froebel's  Features  were  sharp 
and  angular,  Diesterweg's  round  and  full.  Both  had  the 
arched  nose,  but  Froebel's  was  more  prominent.  His 
expression  of  countenance  was  more  deeply  thoughtful, 
and  absorbed  in  himself,  while  a  keen  observation  of 
outward  things  and  at  the  same  time  a  jovial  expression 
characterized  Diesterweg.  Froebel  had  but  little  critical 
faculty  outside  of  his  own  subject,  while  Diesterweg  pos- 
sessed it  in  a  high  degree  in  all  directions ;  and  although 
both  minds  worked  in  the  same  field,  it  was  in  very 
different  ways.  While  Diesterweg  was  recognized  mas- 
ter in  the  field  of  instruction  and  its  methods,  Froebel's 
special  problem 'was  that  of  education  in  general,  the 
development  of  the  whole  man,  and  with  special  refer- 
ence to  the  formation  of  character,  the  preparation  for 
acting  and  producing.  This  aim  was  with  him  the  most 
important  in  creating  a  new  educational  beginning  in  the 
earlier  years  of  life.  Diesterweg  worked  with  Pesta- 
lozzi  more  to  form  the  understanding;  Froebel  more 
for  forming  the  will  and  the  active  powers.  Diester- 
weg personally  influenced  the  immediate  present  by 
his  pre-eminently  practical  genius  in  the  field  of  peda- 
gogics ;  while  Froebel's  influence  will  only  make  it- 
self fully  felt  in  the  future.  Those  who,  like  Froebel, 
are  favored  with  a  new  idea,  are  a  burning-glass  for 
higher  inspirations,  for  which  they  have  to  wait ;  and 
their  work  is  so  wholly  inward  it  rarely  allows  them,  in 
their  lifetime,  to  have  great  authority  in  the  outside 
world.  Besides,  Froebel  was  a  discoverer,  and  such 
must  always  work  in  silence  till  everything  is  perfected 
for  outward  application. 

If  these  two  great  souls  were  in  many  respects  con- 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  35 

trasts  to  each  other,  they  were  yet  inwardly  united  in 
other  respects.  Both  were  men  of  deep  feeling,  warm 
beaming  hearts,  profound,  original  natures,  who  knew 
that  they  had  accepted  service  in  the  ranks  of  humanity, 
and  who,  with  entire  self-renunciation,  worked  and  suf- 
fered for  it  throughout  their  whole  lives. 

I  have  always  looked  upon  my  intimacy  with  these 
two  lofty  minds  and  excellent  men,  and  my  association 
in  their  great  and  noble  work  of  education,  as  a  rare 
happiness. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

MIDDENDORFF. 

I  LOOKED  forward  with  great  interest  to  Midden- 
dorff's  visit,  knowing  of  him  already  from  Froebel's 
account,  and  that  he  possessed  in  him  his  truest  friend 
and  companion,  who  had  accompanied  him  on  his  life- 
path,  and  had  shared  labor  and  pain  with  him  for  more 
than  thirty  years.  ("  He  is  a  childlike  man,"/  said  Froe- 
bel,("who  understands  me  with  his  heart.'')  Both  had 
been  soldiers  in  Lutzovv's  free  corps,  and  at  the  beginning 
of  the  campaign  of  1813  had  found  each  other  out  and 
established  a  friendship,  —  one  of  those  rare  friendships 
which  endure  for  life,  and  therefore  will  last  beyond  it. 

One  afternoon  in  September  Froebel  came  to  my 
house  and  introduced  his  friend  with  the  words  :  "  Here 
is  Middendorff."  Who  that  had  once  seen  that  pres- 
ence, simple,  plain,  and  yet  arousing  full  sympathy, 


36  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

could  ever  forget  it  ?     With  the  first  glance  of  the  eyes 
and  clasp  of  the  hands  we  were  friends. 

Like  Froebel,  Middendorff  belonged  to  that  class  of 
men  who  are  represented  in  our  time  only  by  rare  types; 
who  appear  in  the  modern  world  as  forms  out  of  the 
past,  and  not  belonging  to  the  present.  This  type  ex- 
presses in  its  nature  the  honest,  true,  steadfast,  genuine 
German,  combined  with  that  innocent  childlikeness  and 
heartiness,  knowing  no  guile  because  incapable  of  deceiv- 
ing, and  forms  the  sharpest  contrast  to  the  worldly  craft- 
iness, and  empty,  critical  intellectualism  of  the  men  of 
'  our  day.  A  beautiful  simplicity  in  the  highest  sense 
/  of  the  word,  the  inheritance  of  a  bygone  generation, 
characterized  Middendorff.  Great  tenderness  of  nature 
gave  him  an  almost  feminine  stamp.  To  conquer  all 
opposition  with  love,  to  harmonize  discords,  to  veil 
faults  when  they  could  not  be  cured,  to  see  the  better 
side  in  dark  days,  to  trust  the  all-powerful  Providence 
with  pious  devotion,  —  all  this,  united  with  a  childlike 
cheerfulness,  gave  him  the  ideal  stamp  of  a  soul-keeper, 
that  floats  before  us  out  of  the  past,  and  here  and  there 
may  still  be  seen  by  us  in  some  real  village  pastor. 

Therefore  was  Middendorff  truly  Froebel's  good  angel 
during  his  earthly  pilgrimage  ;  he  always  tried  to  soothe 
and  to  equalize,  and  was  a  peacemaker  in  the  wide 
family  circle  when  that  was  necessary. 

In  spite  of  these  characteristic  traits  of  the  past,  yet 
''Middendorff  was  one  of  the  spirits  longing  for  a  renova-'/ 
/  tion  ;  one  of  those  so  completely  penetrated  with  that 
modern  impulse  for  higher  development,  that  no  youth- 
ful spirit  could  pursue  promising  inducements  with  more 
fire,  or  give  himself  up  to  them  with  more  ideal  elevation. 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  37 

•  ( 

Froebel's  motto,  "  the__ renovation  of  life,"  had  taken  ) 
complete  possession  of  Middendorffs  soul  7~and  the  dis-  ! 
appointments  which  at  that  time  followed  so  closely  after 
this  elevation  could  not  rob  him  of  his  fair  hopes,  that, 
even  if  they  had  to  traverse  a  wilderness  first,  the  prom- 
ised land  of  a  better  time  and  an  ennobled  humanity 
would  nevertheless  be  reached.  Hjs__hopes  rested  qn__ 
children,  —  "  children  worthily  educated  in  truth,"  who 
would  in  the  future  victoriously  maintain  the  contest 
against  all  kinds  of  savagery,  rudeness,  vice,  and  cow- 
^ardice^iand  thus  be  enabled  to  gain  freedom  through 
morality,  and  to  behold  the  dawn  of  more  beautiful  days. 
This  was  to  him  an  incontestable  certainty,  of  which  he 
was  often  able  to  convince  doubters  by  his  inspiring 
words.  He  could  not  doubt  the  grandeur  of  human 
nature,  which  mirrored  itself  in  his  own  soul. 

How  would  this  fresh,  youthful  old  man  have  rejoiced 
had  he  lived  to  see  the  victories  of  Germany  of  to-day  ! 

But  he  was  happy,  nevertheless,  in  his  own  day,  since 
it  was  given  to  him  to  see  everything  in  the  shimmer  of 
beauty, — everywhere,  in  great  and  perfected  things  as 
well  as  in  the  smallest  and   most  hidden,  God's  holy 
creation  and  his  guidance.     His  communion  with  nature,  ( 
like  Froebel's,  was  alway_s  worship  of  God,  and  awakened  / 
in  him  the  poetical  mood,  which  on  our  walks  often  took  / 
the  form  of  verse.     These  I  would  find  the  next  morning 
upon  my  table.     Without  being  masterpieces  in  form, 
such  a  truly  poetical  nature  was  expressed  in  these  un- 
assuming little  poems  that  they  warmed  up  the  recipient 
and  lighted  up  the  little  incidents  and  impressions  of 
our  Liebenstein  circle.     In  this  little  circle,  where  from 
all  sides  streamed  upon  him  honor,  love,  and  trust  in 
full  measure,  he  was  always  well  and  happy. 


38  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

And  Froebel,  too,  was  always  happy  and  exhilarated 
in  Middendorff's  presence.  He  exchanged  with  him 
every  feeling  of  the  soul,  every  thought  upon  all  the 
little  circumstances  of  their  life.  Nothing  could  destroy 
that  intimate  friendship,  not  even  occasional  undeniable 
disagreements,  or  rather  incomplete  comprehension  of 
Froebel's  idea  and  its  consequences  on  the  part  of 
Middendorff.  Froebel  used  to  say,  "  Middendorff  seizes 
everything  with  his  feelings,  even  the  idea.  He  is  all 
devotion.  Without  him  we  could  not  have  attained  what 
we  have  attained."  These  were  words  of  deep  acknowl- 
edgment out  of  Froebel's  mouth.  Yes,  without  Midden- 
dorff, Froebel  perhaps  would  not  have  come  out  unbroken 
from  the  storms  and  disappointments  of  his  life. 

Middendorff,  in  this  union  of  souls,  was  the  feminine 
half,  which,  comforting  and  softening,  stands  by  the  side 
of  the  manly  strength,  so  that  the  storm  may  not  break 
it,  and  it  may  learn  to  bow  to  the  immutable.  Good 
judgment  of  things,  severe  criticism  of  men  and  circum- 
stances, were  often  out  of  proportion  to  this  predomi- 
nance of  benevolence  and  goodness  of  heart.  He  was 
hardly  capable  of  understanding  evil  in  others,  for  he 
always  brought  forward  extenuating  circumstances.  Even 
in  judging  Froebel's  scholars,  both  he  and  Middendorff 
were  not  seldom  deceived  by  their  hopeful  and  embel- 
lishing benevolence.  They  thought  they  saw  much  sig- 
nificance and  many  promising  capacities  where  at  most 
a  lively  sympathy  and  devotion  to  the  cause  existed. 

But  certainly  not  one  of  the  pupils  of  the  Liebenstein 
or  Marienthal  schools  has  forgotten  how  Middendorff's 
visits  always  brought  an  innocent,  poetical  serenity,  one 
might  say,  a  holy  state  of  mind,  and  how  well  he  knew 


REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL.  39 

the  way  at  once  to  enliven  and  to  elevate  them.  When, 
in  our  customary  walks,  we  saw  the  sun  go  down,  Mid- 
dendorff  would  take  out  a  little  song-book  and  intone  a 
hymn  to  the  sun,  in  which  the  young  girls  would  all  join, 
or  at  least  sing  the  refrain.  If  plants  and  flowers  were 
woven  into  wreaths  and  crowns,  he  used  their  admiration 
and  wonder  to  interest  them  in  the  wisdom  of  creation, 
and  to  apply  its  laws  to  human  life. 

The  symbolism  of  things  was  always  attractive  to 
Middendorff,  and  his  explanations  and  comparisons  were 
always  sensuous.  fit  was  his  deep — and,  for  a  man,  rare  I 
—  sensibility  that  gave  him  so  great  power  to  influence 
the  female  mind,  and  made  him  the  best  interpreter  of 
Froebel's  genius.  What  Froebel  created  was  adopted 
by  Middendorff,  worked  out  with  the  deepest  devotion, 
and  generally  given  back  in  an  intelligible  form  ;  and 
with  what  perseverance,  with  what  unflinching  courage 
and  unwavering  fidelity,  did  he  defend  Froebel's  idea 
from  the  very  beginning,  even  in  the  narrowest  circles, 
where  he  found  only  a  glimpse  of  understanding,  and 
against  the  often  mocking  or  entirely  condemnatory  crit- 
icism of  some  teachers  and  pedagogical  authorities,  who 
had  never  given  themselves  the  trouble  to  learn  the 
theory  and  the  praxis  of  Froebel's  method  !  If  ever  any 
one  understood  how  to  bring  out  the  ideal  of  the  peculiar 
nature  hidden  in  every  man,  then  Middendorff  knew  how 
to  draw  Froebel's  into  the  light,  and  to  overlook  the 
human  weaknesses  and  separate  them  from  the  genius. 
Every  utterance  of  this  genius  he  accepted  as  an  oracle ; 
and  if  there  were  some  things  not  entirely  clear  to  him, 
he  used  to  say,  "  There  must  be  something  in  that ;  I\ 
will  work  it  out ;  it  will  fit  in  with  the  rest,"  etc. 


40  REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL. 

In  one  of  my  evening  walks  with  Middendorff  I  said 
to  him,  "  By  means  of  Froebel's  doctrine  and  education  ! 
men  will  be  brought  to  understand  the  visible  creation  ) 
as  a  symbol  of  the  mental,  and  find  the  confirmation  by  y 
experience  of  what  we  call  revelation.     Truth  is  always  j 
the  same,  whether  science  digs  it  out  of  the  things  of  ' 
nature,  the  material  world,  or  a  mind  of  higher  enlighten- 
ment receives  it  through  the  immediate  inspiration  of 
genius.     It  only  needs  that  we  learn  to  understand  the 
language  of  things  (i.  e.  the  original  nature  of  things)  in 
order  that  we  may  compare  them  with  that  which  is 
original  in  the  mind,  —  with  thought.      Then  we  can 
explain  contradictions  which  are  only  apparent.     This 
solution  abolishes  the  dualism  which  exists  in  the  first 
theory,  which  is  valid  only  with  respect  to  the  incom- 
plete, the  relative  of  all  actuality,  but  not  with  respect  to 
the  truth,  as  such,  — -  the  absolute. 

"  An  education  which,  at  the  start,  enables  the  human 
mind  to  see  the  connection  and  the  originating  and 
finally  effective  unity  of  things,  must  contribute  to  abol- 
ish that  dual  mode  of  perception  which  is  called  forth 
by  the  antitheses  and  contradictions  in  the  facts  of  real 
life,  and  its  incomplete  and  changing  phenomena.  This 
education  by  and  with  things  themselves,  this  dealing 
with  the  concrete,  will  help  to  build  the  bridge  between 
the  material  and  the  intellectual,  between  the  real  and 
the  ideal,  the  universe  and  God ;  and  in  that  way  will 
lay  the  foundation  in  the  childish  mind  for  a  religious 
view  of  the  universe. 

"  It  is  certainly  a  great  defect  in  the  present  religious 
teaching  that  it  dwells  always,  by  preference,  upon  the 
apparent  difference  or  opposition  of  nature  and  spirit, 


REMINISCENCES    OF    FROEBEL.  41 

instead  of  making  prominent  in  the  child's  mind  at  first, 
at  least,  the  harmony  and  the  resolution  of  differences,     ,  / 
which  is  the  goal  set  by  God.     The  child's  eye  always,    / 
"at  first,  seizes  the  analogous,  the  point  of  union,  the 
whole  connection  of  things,  and  only  after  that  begins  to 
discern  differences  and  opposition. 

"  In  our  time  men  seem  to  have  forgotten  nature  in 
favor  of  spirit,  and  objects  in  favor  of  abstractions ;  the 
word  is  separated  from  the  thing,  and  governs ;  and  gen- 
erally, only  as  a  mere  empty  word,  is  not  understood. 
It  is  quite  clear  to  me  that  Froebel's  method  and  doc- 
trine will  reverse  this  process,  and  first  connect  facts 
with  the  outer  and  inner  experience  as  their  root  and 
their  cause.  Thus  only  can  the  spirit  of  truth,  which  is 
the  spirit  of  God,  again  be  recognized  as  one  and  the 
same,  in  nature  and  in  the  mind.  Froebel's  idea  of 
education  strives  to  bring  to  the  full  consciousness  of 
men  their  relations  to  nature  (the  divine  nature),  and 
thereby  must  the  relation  of  men  to  God  (in  the  spirit) 
and  to  all  that  is  divine,  as  Christianity  teaches,  be  lifted 
to  higher  and  clearer  recognition.  One  side  of  truth 
verifies  and  explains  the  other  side. 

"  The  ruling  tendency  of  our  time  towards  nature  and 
things,  and  the  interests  of  actual  life,  will  be  obliged  to 
serve  identical  purposes.  In  spite  of  the  reverse  side, 
the  errors  and  coarse  degeneracy  bound  up  therewith, 
this  tendency  is  one  necessary  for  the  process  of  devel- 
opment, willed  by  God,  and  it  will  reach  its  goal,  even 
though  in  a  roundabout  way,  through  a  deeper  knowl- 
edge of  human  nature,  and  bridge  over  the  great  gulf 
between  the  spiritual  and  material  world. 

"  This  agreement  of  the  idea  of  Froebel  with  the  needs 


42  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

and  the  legitimate  and  higher  strivings  of  the  present  day 
for  progress  and  reform  signalizes  it  as  a  divine  idea. 
The  right  carrying  out  of  this  new  idea  of  education  will,!r  ^* 
more  than  anything  else,  help  to  conquer  crude  material-)! 
ism,  and  "to  break  the  path  for  idealism  to  harmonize* 
with  the  practical  actuality,  and  bring  the  real  and  ideal)| 
life  again  into  accord." 


' 


Middendorff  looked  at  me  with  beaming  eyes,  and 
replied  :  "  You  have  spoken  to  me  out  of  the  soul ;  so 
have  I  also  explained  the  idea.  I  will  now  give  you  a 
view  which  I  have  never  before  expressed  in  words  to 
any  one.  This  idea  of  the  unity  of  nature  could  only 
have  been  worked  out  and  prepared  for  an  educational 
application  by  a  mind  that  had  experienced  this  truth 
r  within  itself  and  lived  it  out.  Froebel  has  lived  in  un-  ~) 
I  broken  union  with  nature ;  the  human  weaknesses  and  j 
4  defects  which  are  also  his  inheritance  have  not  hindered  / 
this  union.  Only  through  God's  special  ordering  could > 
this  happen,  and  therein  lies  an  inexpressible  comfort,  in 
view  of  the  evils  and  woe  of  humanity.  You  are  right. 
One  truth  must  ever  confirm  another;  the  recognized 
truth  will  be  more  clearly  and  deeply  understood  through 
every  new  one  discovered.  The  spirit  of  Christianity,  so 
very  much  misunderstood  and  mistaken  at  present,  will 
awaken  to  new  life  in  children,  and  appear  in  a  new  and 
a  higher  light  when  Froebel's  idea  of  education  has  been 
practically  applied.  This  is  my  deepest  conviction." 

"  But  how,"  I  replied,  "  can  we  make  this  connection 

,   between  the   greatest   and   the  smallest  intelligible  by 

means  of  child's  play?   how  connect  the  deep  idea  with 

so  insignificant  a  form?    I  confess  that  I  do  not  see.    As 

the  world  is  at  present,  it  would  laugh  at  us  if  we  should 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  43 

express  such  views  aloud,  and  yet  I  own  that  I  cannot  be 
satisfied  with  the  mere  practical  external  side  of  the  sub- 
ject if  I  am  to  devote  myself  entirely  to  it." 

Middendorff  replied  :  "  This  is,  however,  the  only  way ; 
in  all  humility  to  nourish  the  smallest,  and  scatter  seed 
which  in  the  future,  perhaps  long  after  we  shall  be  no 
more,  will  spring  up.  But  to  tend  the  human  germs  in 
a  constantly  progressive  manner,  in  every  new  stage  of 
human  development,  is  certainly  no  mean  calling,  but  the 
greatest  and  most  important  for  every  generation." 

"I  see  this  very  well,"  was  my  answer,  "but  every  ; 
mind  needs  to  unfold  and.  Jiye-itself  out,  and  would  like  \ 
to  leave  behind  in  this  life  some"Vorkof  its  own,  either 
i  small  or  great,  according  to  the  measure  of  its  powers.  I 
The  highest  satisfaction,  it  seems  to  me,  is  given  by  an 
independent  work  of  beauty,  in  which  one's  own  mind  has 
mirrored  itself.  Every  one  who  bears  something  in  his 
soul  which  he  is  driven  by  inner  impulse  to  express  — 
an  impulse  he  cannot  silence,  for  it  always  awakens  anew 
with  irresistible  power,  demanding  a  hearing — is  bound 
to  utter  that  word  ;  it  is  the  command  of  God  ;  and  if 
one  has  desired  and  striven  for  this  work  without  append- 
ing his  own  name  to  it,  we  may  be  sure  that  the  motive 
of  it  is  a  higher  one  than  personal  vanity.  Ought  one, 
however,  to  sacrifice  one's  own  idea,  the  children  of  one's 
own  mind,  to  represent  the  ideas  of  another?  Yet,  on 
the  other  hand,  I  see  plainly  that  it  is  far  more  useful  to 
work  for  human  society  on  a  large  scale,  and  to  educate 
for  it  in  the  young  generation  of  this  and  the  following 
age  better  men,  braver  citizens,  and  greater  geniuses. 
Instead  of  offering  the  work  of  one  mind,  a  thousand 
greater  and  more  various  works  will  be  prepared,  if  the 


44  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

divine  spark  of  creativeness  shall  be  awakened  and  more 
perfectly  fostered  in  the  present  and  future  generations 
than  has  hitherto  been  done.  All  this  is  undeniable  ; 
but  it  requires  in  some  degree  the  sacrifice  of  our  own 
growth  and  progress,  and  hence  the  decision  is  not 
easy." 

Just  at  this  moment  Froebel  joined  us,  and  asked  the 
subject  of  our  long  conversation.  We  told  him  the  last 
part  of  it,  upon  which  he  said,  turning  to  me,  "  In  such 
questions  the  inner  necessity  decides.  Whoever  has 
actually  recognized  a  truth  that  concerns  mankind  as  a 
whole,  must  confess  and  serve  it,  whether  he  wishes  to 
or  not.  This  inner  necessity  will  compel  you,  as  you 
will  find.  Nothing  in  the  world  is  attainable  without 
sacrifice ;  and  when  one  can  promote  a  universal  good, 
the  individual  (Froebel  called  it  the  particular]  must 
yield,  even  if  it  were  the  best  and  the  highest  accom- 
plishment. When  our  country  is  in  danger,  all  those 
capable  of  bearing  arms  must  enter  into  the  conflict, 
however  much  of  intellect  and  talent  is  lost  by  it;  and 
to  work  in  the  service  of  humanity  stands  higher  than  to 
perform  any  individual  thing." 

"  You  are  right,"  said  I.  "  The  whole  is  indeed  better 
than  a  part.  No  one  can  estimate  more  highly  than  I 
do  the  idea  which  will  awaken  creative  power  in  man- 
kind in  every  direction,  and  lift  thoughts  into  deeds.  But 
will  it  ever  be  possible  to  rid  the  world  of  Philistines  and 
puppets?  I  do  not  believe  it." 

"  By  no  means,"  replied  Froebel ;  "  that  must  not  be.. 
Every  ship  needs  its  ballast,  and  if  we  had  no  Philistines 
(as  you  call  them),  how  could  the  world  go  on?  who 
would  attend  to  every-day  cares  and  business  ?  Every 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  45 

/work  needs  special  powers.  Nature  provides  all  neces- ^ 
}  sary  powers,  and  human  education  must  develop  them,  j 
each  one  according  to  its  kind,  forbidding  that  the  most 
and  best  be  lost,  as  hitherto;  and  that  shall  prevent  men 
from  working  like  beasts  of  burden,  unconscious  of  their 
dignity.  An  education  which  does  not  try  to  raise  roses 
from  thistle-bushes  will  wisely  use  all  talents  and  dispo- 
sitions, and  bring  each  man  into  his  proper  place,  out  of 
which  he  will  not  desire  to  go.  My  educational  method, 
in  its  right  application,  can  surely  attain  this  end,  —  that 
is  to  say,  gradually,  step  by  step.  If  we  do  not  force 
nature,  or  drive  it  in  a  direction  opposite  to  its  peculiar 
bent ;  if  we  recognize  its  general  law,  and  give  each  par- 
ticular power  its  free  development,  and  all  the  support 
and  care  it  needs,  as  an  intelligent  gardener  does  with 
his  plants,  then  will  the  human  powers  be  better  able 
to  bring  forth  their  blossoms.  But  as  the  plant  grows 
through  its  own  vital  power,  so  also  must  human  power 
become  great  through  its  own  exercise  and  effort.  Only 
let  there  be  no  outside  forcing  or  supporting.  Every- 
thing in  nature  remains  in  its  own  place,  and  there  fulfils 
its  destiny;  the  grass  will  not  become  a  tree  nor  the 
insect  a  bird.  The  same  harmony  can  be  reached  in  the/ 
1  human  world,  so  that  every  one  can  follow  his  own  call-  ( 
ing,  can  work  and  live.  To  reach  the  unconscious  har- ) 
mony  of  nature  with  consciousness  in  the  human  sphere, 
is  the  goal  which  God  has  set  for  man.  Battle,  strife,  w*ar, 
dissension,  pain,  error,  sin,  are  all  to  be  means  to  this  end. 
There  is  no  lack  of  conflict  in  nature  ;  no  intermediation 
without  opposites  ;  no  harmony  without  resolution  of  dis- 
cords ;  no  perfection  without  labor,  and  without  effort  to 
overcome  impediments  and  obstacles.  All  this  Jesus  has 


46  REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL. 

taught  us.     But  teaching  and  insight  alone  do  not  reach 
it ;  it  must  be  enacted  as  Jesus  enacted  it    [We  must! 
educate  the  children  to  doing  and  acting  if  they  are  to ) 
become  in  truth  Christians. "A 

("  And  the  greatest  share  in  such  education  belongs  to 
women"\  in  that  we  are  all  agreed,"  said  Middendorff. 
"Women  must  make  of  their  educational  calling  a  priestly 
office." 

We  had  now  arrived  at  the  door  of  my  dwelling,  which 
brought  our  conversation  to  an  end.  And  far  into  the 
night  I  was  writing  supplementary  and  explanatory  com- 
mentaries upon  it. 

"Your  Middendorff  is  a  glorious  man,"  said  the  Duchess 
Ida,  after  she  had  heard  him  speak  on  kindergartens  the 
first  time  ;  "  he  speaks  from  his  heart  so  warmly  that  one 
has  to  agree  with  him." 

We  were  especially  indebted  to  this  warm  impression 
for  the  lottery,  whose  proceeds  were  to  serve  for  the 
foundation  of  a  kindergarten  in  Liebenstein.  This  was 
so  richly  sustained  with  presents  and  sympathy  that  it 
soon  gave  actual  life  to  the  undertaking,  and  the  largest 
gifts  were  from  the  Princesses,  the  Duchess  of  Meiningen, 
her  sister  Caroline  of  Hesse,  and  the  Duchess  Ida. 

When  Froebel  and  MiddendorfF  saw  the  table  covered 
with  the  gifts,  some  of  which  were  beautiful  works  of 
art,  Middendorff  said,  with  great  feeling,  "  These  gifts 
of  love  should  encourage  us  to  hold  firmly  by  the  faith 
that  the  work  will  not  fail  of  its  necessary  support,  though 
we  may  often  ask  in  many  places  in  vain.  Even  the 
very  small  encouragement  which  my  memorial  on  the 
kindergarten  received  from  the  National  Association  at 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  47 

Frankfort  did  not  discourage  me.*  The  time  will  come 
when  they  will  know  that  the  education  of  the  people 
from  the  earliest  period  of  childhood  is  the  first  neces- 
sary condition  of  bringing  about  the  political  and  moral 
freedom  of  nations." 

"  Yes,  the  time  will  come,"  I  replied,  "  when  the  im- 
mediate connection  between  the  political  reforms  that 
are  striven  for  and  these  demands  of  education  will  be 
recognized  and  appreciated  ;  but  we'can  scarcely  live  to 
see  it,  since  politics  have  so  much  absorbed  the  minds 
of  men  that  this  modest  planting  for  the  sake  of  child- 
hood has  been  overlooked." 

"  Then  we  must  plant  so  many  of  these  nurseries  all 
over  Germany  that  they  cannot  be  overlooked,"  said 
Middendorff. 

"  I  will  give  you  my  hand  to  work  for  that,"  I  said, 
"  and  whoever  understands  the  time  knows  that  work  is 
not  mere  talking,  or  even  thinking,  but  includes  acting. 
Let  us  go  and  see  a  house  that  I  think  will  do  for  our 
kindergarten." 

Weimar,  too,  has  to  thank  Middendorff  for  the  interest 
taken  by  the  court  in  the  kindergarten.  Through  my 
influence  he  received  an  invitation  to  come  up  from 
Keilhau  for  a  few  days  in  the  fall  of  1849,  and  give  two 
lectures.  One  of  these,  in  a  public  meeting,  aroused 
the  interest  of  a  large  number  of  hearers  to  a  high  pitch, 
and  laid  the  foundations  for  the  support  of  a  kinder- 

*  Middendorff  had  read  a  paper  before  the  National  Association  of  1848 ; 
and  later  his  son-in-law,  Dr.  W.  Lange,  edited  it  under  the  title,  "  Wilhelm^ 

Middendorff  upon  the  Kindergarten  "  ;  and  it  was  published  in  Hamburg, 
by  Hoffman  &  Co.,  in  1861. 


48  REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL, 

garten  opened  in  Weimar  in  the  following  year.  The 
other  lecture  was  delivered  at  the  Grand  Duke's,  in  the 
select  court  circle,  and  helped  me  to  gain  the  support  of 
their  Highnesses  for  the  furthering  of  Froebel's  cause, 
and  especially  for  the  introduction  of  his  "  occupations") 

n 

into  the  asylums  under  the  protection  of  the  then  reign-  ] 
ing  Grand  Duchess  (a  Russian  princess). 

When  Middendorff  stood  in  the  private  court  circle 
for  the  first  time,  so  simple,  so  unaffected,  and  yet  so 
firm,  and,  according  to  his  habit,  with  half-closed  eyes, 
uttering  those  words  which  well  up  from  the  heart  and 
penetrate  to  the  hearts  of  all,  and  in  that  circle  so  un- 
accustomed to  plain  simplicity,  the  Grand  Duke,  who 
was  himself  so  easily  interested  in  all  that  is  good,  ex- 
claimed, "  What  an  excellent,  inspiring  man  !  " 

lt  Did  I  do  it  properly  ? "  asked  Middendorff  of  me, 
when  he  had  ended.  With  my  whole  soul  I  could  say, 
"  Yes." 

In  the  following  summer  (1850)  we  met  again  at  Lie- 
benstein,  to  know  each  other  still  better.  The  course 
of  these  reminiscences  will  again  lead  us  back  to  Mid- 
dendorff, and  some  beautiful  things  have  been  con- 
tributed to  the  characterization  of  him  by  W.  Lange  ; 
and  still  later  by  Hanschmann,  in  his  "  Memoirs  of 
Friedrich  Froebel."  Diesterweg  also,  in  his  Rheinische 
Slattern,  published  some  fragments  upon  Middendorff, 
one  of  which  I  myself  contributed  at  Diesterweg's  re- 
quest 


REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL.  49 

\  / 

CHAPTER    V. 

THE  SUMMER  OF   1850  IN  LIEBENSTEIN. 

AFTER  having  returned  to  Liebenstein  in  June, 
1850,  I  found  Froebel  settled  with  his  school  at 
Marienthal,  and  among  his  scholars  was  a  daughter  of 
Diesterweg.  Already  in  the  spring  of  this  year  he  had 
mentioned  to  me  his  removal,  and  written  to  me  with 
delight  of  his  new  home,  ornamented  with  flowers  and 
wreaths  by  the  hands  of  his  scholars,  and  in  which  he 
felt  truly  happy  and  full  of  hope. 

But  there  is  upon  earth  no  light  without  a  shadow, 
and  shadows  were  not  wanting  here.  Froebel  had 
accepted  an  invitation  from  the  Women's  Union  of  Ham- 
burg, and  had  spent  the  past  winter  months  in  that  city, 
and  given  a  course  on  his  educational  method.  Mid- 
dendorff  had  paved  the  way  for  him,  as  he  so  often  did, 
by  some  essays  which  awakened  a  lively  interest  there, 
and  Froebel  had  received  the  liveliest  welcome  from  a 
very  large  circle.  His  letters  to  me  had  acknowledged 
this  and  extolled  the  zeal  of  his  pupils.  But  what  was 
disagreeable  and  disturbing  to  him,  and  affected  him 
painfully,  was  the  founding  of  a  high-school  for  the 
female  sex,  which  struck  out  other  paths  for  the  ad- 
vancement the  time  demanded  for  them  than  those  he 
had  pointed  out  to  be  the  true  ones  for  that  purpose. 

At  that  time,  and  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  the  idea 
of  the  emancipation  of  women  had  stirred  the  minds 
of  many  women  in  a  high  degree,  and  often  drove  even 
the  best  into  false  directions,  though  they  were  not,  how- 


50  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

ever,  on  that  account  guilty  of  the  absurdities  and  per- 
versities of  the  so-called  "  emancipated."  It  is  certain 
that  the  best  and  most  distinguished  women  of  our 
country  have  felt  an  intense  longing  after  advancement 
out  of  the  subordinate  position  formerly  assigned  to 
them,  and  they  greeted  with  joy  the  movement  of  our 
day  for  enfranchisement. 

But  at  that  time  the  requisite  means  for  the  end  were 
not  yet  seen  with  clearness.  Too  much  was  aimed  at  at 
once,  without  due  consideration  of  the  actual  develop- 
ment in  the  majority  of  women.  A  demand  was  made 
from  many  sides  for  a  complete  external  equality  of 
women  with  the  male  sex,  without  considering  that  the 
difference  of  the  sexes,  so  clearly  designed  by  nature, 
pointed  out  a  different  destiny  for  each,  and  that  only 
the  higher  fulfilment  of  the  duties  of  this  destiny  would 
bring  them  up  to  the  position  of  equality  with  men, 
without,  however,  involving  the  same  rights,  duties,  and 
functions.  External  independence  without  correspond- 
ing self-poise  and  self-command  leads  to  destruction. 
Moreover,  there  was  an  attempt  to  counterbalance  the 
deficient  formation  of  the  understanding  by  a  mere 
increase  of  knowledge,  without  the  requisite  foundation 
of  intellectual  habits,  which  only  brings  sham  knowledge, 
and  takes  away  the  greatest  treasure  of  womanhood,  her 
originality  and  innocence.  Even  philosophical  studies 
belonged  to  the  proposed  programme  of  the  high-school, 
which,  even  if  they  could  be  given  to  exceptional  per- 
sons, in  an  exceptional  manner,  were  only  suited  to 
years  of  intellectual  maturity,  not  to  the  youthful  age  to 
which  is  natural  only  belief  in  truth. 

It  was,  meanwhile,  very  conceivable  that  then,  when 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  51 

the  solution  of  the  woman  question  was  yet  in  its  first 
beginning,  the  right  track  should  not  be  immediately 
found  by  the  able  directors  of  the  institution  (Professor 
Karl  Froebel,  a  nephew  of  Froebel's,  and  his  wife,  with 
the  members  of  the  Women's  Union),  although  they 
were  full  of  intellect,  energy,  enthusiasm,  and  practical 
ability. 

There  was  yet  necessary  a  longer  experience,  which 
might  modify  and  make  clear  the  prevailing  views  ;  and 
this  is,  indeed,  still  needed,  for  at  present  the  woman 
question  is  to  be  decided,  more  or  less,  only  by  experi- 
ments, which  are  demanded  for  the  development  of 
everything  new ;  and  on  the  threshold  of  this  subject  a 
continual  pressing  external  necessity  has  directed  the 
first  attention  to  women's  skill  in  work,  and  the  material 
side  of  the  subject.  The^  school  is  still  seeking  for  the 
improved  cultivation  of  the  female  mind,  to  meet  the 
demands  of  the  time,  but  without  having  yet  perfectly 
found  them.  So  there  is  more  need  of  trials  and  ex- 
periments. Undeniably  much  good  has  already  been 
reached,  many  good  steps  have  been  taken  ;  but  also 
many  a  shadow  has  fallen,  and  among  these  —  a  not 
always  agreeable  realism — also  an  accumulation  of  trivial 
acquirements,  which  has  injured  genuine  womanhood. 

Certainly  by  every  forward  step  the  inevitable  one- 
sidedness  of  all  progress  must  gradually  be  vanquished, 
if  the  female  sex  is  to  be  lifted  according  to  its  inner  na- 
ture into  the  proper  place  for  it,  at  the  present  stage  of 
human  development.  But  one  of  the  necessary  requi- 
sites for  this  is  the  new  beginning  of  human  culture 
according  to  Froebel's  idea,  and  the  fitting  of  the  female 
sex  to  work  out  this  idea  as  mothers  and  teachers. 


52  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

Froebel  could  not  therefore  befriend  the  one-sided  ex- 
periment, on  account  of  his  deep  conviction  that  the  first 
principles  of  the  science  of  motherhood  taught  by  him 
must  lie  at  the  foundation  of  the  elevation  of  the  female 
sex,  conformably  with  truth  and  its  own  nature. 

Already  in  the  fall  of  the  last  year  he  had  spoken  to 
me  with  disapproval  of  the  Hamburg  project  of  the  high- 
school  as  running  counter  to  his  endeavors.  It  followed, 
therefore,  that  on  my  arriving  at  Liebenstein  this  year  it 
became  the  first  subject  of  our  conversations. 

After  I  had  expressed  to  Froebel  that  I  thought  the  age 
unquestionably  demanded  arrangements  for  the  higher 
education  of  women,  and  that  if  the  first  attempts  made 
might  not  be  all  that  could  be  desired  they  would  pave 
the  way  for  better  things  and  things  more  adapted  to  the 
end,  he  burst  out,  not  without  vehemence  :  — 

"But  what  good  will  come  out  of  this  knowledge, 
stamped  and  cemented  upon  the  outside,  which  is,  in- 
deed, no  knowledge  at  all,  for  it  conceals  and  defaces  the 
real  human  nature  like  a  party-colored  patch  ?  Alljthajt 
does  not  grow  out  of.  one's  inner  being,  all  that  is  not 
one's  own  original  feeling  and  thought,  or  at  least  awakens 
that,  oppresses  and  defaces  the  individuality  of  man  in- 
stead of  calling  it  forth,  and  nature  becomes  thereby  a 
caricature.  Shall  we  never  cease  to  stamp  human  nature, 
even  in  childhood,  like  coins  ?  to  overlay  it  with  foreign 
images  and  foreign  superscriptions,  instead  of  letting  it 
develop  itself  and  grow  into  form  according  to  the  law 
of  life  planted  in  it  by  God,  the  Father,  so  that  it  may 
be  able  to  bear  the  stamp  of  the  divine,  and  become  an 
image  of  God?  For  hundreds  of  years  we  Germans 
especially,  through  imitation  of  foreign  nations,  have 


REMINISCENCES    OF    FROEBEL.  53 

worn  these  fetters,  which  do  not  allow  the  deepest  nature 
of  the  people  or  of  individuals  to  move  and  unfold  freely. 
But  shall  we,  therefore,  never  make  a  beginning  of  allow- 
ing a  tree  of  life  to  germinate  in  each  one's  own  heart, 
and  a  tree  of  knowledge  in  each  one's  own  mind,  taking 
care  for  its  beautiful  unfolding,  that  it  may  bring  forth 
fresh  and  healthy  flowers  and  ripe  fruits,  which  shall  take 
root  in  this  world  and  shall  germinate  again  in  the  other? 
Shall  we  never  banish  the  fear  that  minds  ripened  through 
their  own  observation,  their  own  experience,  and  their 
own  thinking,  will  be  able  to  overthrow  those  universal 
truths  which,  in  the  course  of  history,  have  been  unfolded 
and  sanctioned  by  revelation  ?  Can  what  is  true  ever  be 
overthrown?  Can  this  individual  mind,  in  its  original 
power,  find  other  truth  than  the  universal  mind  ?  And 
are  not  the  errors  of  one  and  of  another  always,  in  the 
progress  of  development,  turned  again  into  the  right 
path?  Does  not  God's  providence  always  again  send 
guides  who  lead  back  into  this  right  path  and  illumi- 
nate it  ? 

"But  I  will  protect  childhood,  that  it  may  not,  as  in 
earlier  generations,  be  pinioned,  as  in  a  strait-jacket,  in 
garments  of  custom  and  ancient  prescription  that  have 
become  too  narrow  for  the  new  time.  I  shall  show  the 
way  and  shape  the  means,  that  every  human  soul  may 
grow  of  itself  out  of  its  own  individuality.  But  where 
shall  I  find  allies  and  helpers  if  not  in  women,  who,  as 
mothers  and  teachers,  may  put  my  idea  in  execution  ? 
Only  intellectually  active  women  can  and  will  do  it.  But 
if  these  are  to  be  loaded  with  the  ballast  of  dead  knowl- 
edge that  can  take  no  root  in  the  unprepared  ground,  if 
the  fountains  of  their  own  original  life  are  to  be  choked 


54  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

up  with  it,  they  will  not  follow  my  direction  nor  under- 
stand the  call  of  the  time  for  the  new  task  of  their  sex, 
but  will  seek  satisfaction  in  empty  superficiality. 

"  To  learn  to  comprehend  nature  in  the  child,  is  not 
that  to  comprehend  one's  own  nature  and  the  nature  of 
mankind?  And  in  this  comprehension  is  there  not  in- 
volved a  certain  degree  of  comprehension  of  all  things 
else?  Women  cannot  learn  and  take  into  themselves 
anything  higher  and  more  comprehensive.  It  should 
therefore  at  least  be  the  beginning,  and  the  love  of  child- 
hood should  be  awakened  in  the  mind  (and,  in  a  wider 
sense,  this  is  the  love  of  humanity),  so  that  a  new,  free 
generation  of  men  can  grow  up  -by  right  care. 

"Instead  of  diffusing,  before  all  other  things,  the  knowl- 
edge necessary  for  the  welfare  of  future  generations,  — 
that  is,  that  the  human  mind  is  already  choked  in  the 
germ  by  the  burdensome  crowd  of  notions  heaped  up 
and  patched  on  foreign  to  it,  rooted  in  nothing  within, 
we  foolishly  strive  to  increase  them  still  more ! 

"  And  what  else  will  these  high-schools  do  with  their 
surfeit  of  the  mere  culture  of  the  understanding,  and 
superficial  word-cramming,  which  they  call  philosophy? 
They  ruin  everything  for  me,  and  shall  I  lift  a  finger  to 
support  such  things  ?  It  is  impossible !  I  cannot  and 
never  will  consent.  I  know  my  way  which  God  himself 
has  pointed  out  to  me,  and  I  must  remain  in  it  even  were 
all  the  world  against  me." 

Froebel  expressed  this  his  deepest  conviction  with 
great  excitement.  I  had  for  the  most  part  entire  sym- 
pathy with  him,  and  I  answered  :  — 

"I  most  certainly  share  your  opinion  that  we  shall 
never  be  able  to  remedy  the  evils  of  our  system  of  edu- 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  55 

r  cation  by  the  mere  accumulation  of  knowledge.      The 
:  originality  of  human  nature  must  be  rescued;  the  real, 
^  inner  self  of  each  individuality  allowed  to  appear  freely, 
<  in  order  that  at  least  the  more  gifted  and  stronger  souls 
may  not  be  stamped  with  the  impress  of  mediocrity,  or 
wear  themselves  out  in  pain  because  they  are  not  suited 
to  live  in  a  conventional  manner  among  men  of  wood 
(schablonen-menscheti).     If  any  one  knows  this  pain  of  not 
being  able  to  give  out  his  best,  most  individual  self,  with- 
out being  misunderstood  and  branded  as  a  heretic  by  the 
common  superficiality  of  even  intelligent  people,  he  will 
become  your  ally  in  preserving  and  unfolding  the  origi- 
/nating  power  of  mankind. 

/     "  That  your  mode  of  education  by  creating  and  pro- 
/  ducing  from  the  earliest  childhood,  through  one's  own 
J  experience  and  knowledge  of  things  and  objects,  is  one 
\  of  the  first  and  principal  conditions  for  this,  I  am  fully 
convinced,  and  on  that  account  chiefly  I  shall  be  com- 
pelled to  help  the  work.     At  least  let  it  be  asked  how 
we  are  to  educate,  instead  of  everlastingly  repeating  what 
is  to  be  attained. 

"Woman's  nature  has  unquestionably  retained  the 
stamp  of  its  originality  and  spontaneity  better  than  that 
of  man.  She  owes  this  largely  to  the  smaller  measure 
of  mere  knowledge  that  has  been  forced  upon  her,  and 
this  is  at  least  one  advantage  of  the  ignorance  in  which 
the  sex  has  been  left.  But  the  most  original  element  of 
the  woman's  soul  is  maternal  love,  which  at  no  stage  of 
development  and  in  no  decline  of  the  human  race  can 
belie  the  stamp  of  the  holiest  nature.  This  love,  the 
strongest  of  all  human  love,  assures  victory  to  your  edu- 
cational work,  for  it  will  understand  and  learn  to  apply 


56  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL, 

your  idea  with  the  heart,  however  long  it  may  wait  for 
the  full  recognition  of  it. 

"  But  why  are  you  opposed  to  the  founding  of  such 
institutions  as  this  high-school,  when  you  yourself  recog- 
nize experience  as  the  best  master  ?  Let  the  matter  take 
its  course,  and  the  reasonable  persons  among  its  founders 
will  change  and  improve  many  things,  and  gradually  find 
the  right  way.  Until  the  children  of  the  kindergarten 
grow  up,  we  shall  not  have  those  originally  growing 
natures  that  can  stand  on  their  own  feet,  and  will  know 
how  to  work  out  and  make  their  own  that  which  is  en- 
joined by  authority.  The  mass  of  the  men  of  the  pres- 
ent day  understand  only  the  old  accustomed  way  of 
teaching,  and  need  leading-strings  and  acquired  wisdom. 
While  for  this  reason  there  are  not  yet  original  men,  we 
must  let  them  follow  the  impulse  of  their  time  in  their 
own  way.  They  will  produce  much  that  is  useful  and 
healthy,  and  provide  for  the  necessities  and  enjoyments 
of  the  moment  sufficiently.  Must  we  not  always  have 
with  us  men  of  the  future,  men  of  the  present,  and  even 
men  of  the  past,  so  that  that  connection  in  time  may  not 
be  wanting,  the  recognition  of  which  you  consider  the 
first  condition  of  right  education  and  unity  of  view  ? 

"Those  women  who  have  defective  or  scanty  intel- 
lectual natures  we  shall  not  win  to  our  cause  ;  they  must 
go  their  own  way.  They  will  be  attracted  externally  to 
the  great  and  brilliant  incidents  of  the  time,  but  they 
will  not  work  for  the  little  ones  or  for  the  humble  cause 
which  will  only  become  great  after  they  nave  left  the 
stage.  You  say  yourself  {hat  every  one  has  his  own  — 
and  a  different  —  problem  to  solve.  The  present  move- 
ment draws  women  in  another  direction  than  the  one  in 


REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL.  57 

which  you  would  have  them  go.  They  are  striving  to 
free  themselves  from  the  narrowness  of  their  home  life, 
and  they  think  the  educational  office  required  by  you 
would  condemn  them  to  the  greater  limitation  of  the 
nursery.  I  have  had  some  experience  in  this  matter 
within  the  last  few  months.  A  universal  enthusiasm  of 
women  for  their  mission  as  educators  of  humanity  is  un- 
attainable in  our  time.  The  majority  of  women  will  take 
advantage  of  the  more  elevated  and  independent  posi- 
tions opened  to  the  sex,  and  enjoy  having  their  influence 
and  making  it  felt,  and  they  will  not  give  themselves  up 
to  work  for  future  generations. 

u  "  How  can  you  expect  women  to  look  at  things  from 
an  elevated  standpoint,  when  their  previous  education 
and  position  have  tended  almost  exclusively  to  folly  and 
externality,  if  they  have  not  been  forced  to  labor  like 
beasts  of  burden  ?  Only  those  who  have  suffered  deeply 
and  severely,  who  have  learned  under  the  heavy  press- 
ure of  a  life's  experience  to  overcome  and  sacrifice  per- 
sonal ease,  will  undertake  such  a  duty  as  to  labor  for 
future  times.  It  is  only  the  few  who  live  and  work  with 
a  conscious  aim.  But  the  instinct  of  motherly  love  will 
impel  many  among  the  mass  of  average  women  to  offer 
you  the  hand  of  fellowship,  and  further  your  work  for 
the  sake  of  their  own  children.  We  can  count  most 
securely  on  them  for  the  support  of  the  necessary  out- 
ward arrangements,  but  not  for  a  deep  comprehension 
of  the  spiritual  meaning  of  our  cause." 

"  That  may  be  true,"  said  Froebel.  "  Everything  that 
happens  in  the  world  is  far  more  the  result  of  uncon- 
scious impulse  than  of  clear  thought.  But  the  time  has 
come  —  a  new  stage  of  life  —  when  the  buds  on  the 


58  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

tree  of  humanity  must  open,  whence  will  come  a  new 
impelling  force  which  will  not  rest,  but  will  awaken  the 
intellect  and  spirits  of  men  in  different  degrees.  Whether 
in  the  heart  as  faith  or  in  the  mind  as  sight,  it  matters 
not  if  ifr  only  awakes.  But  you,  will  you  continue  in 
this  work  which  is  to  renew  and  rejuvenate  human  life 
through  the  right  nurture  of  children  ?  " 

"  Certainly  I  will,  as  far  as  in  me  lies,"  was  my  an- 
swer. "  It  has  often  seemed  to  me  as  if  I  saw  the 
genius  of  humanity  struggling  desperately  in  many  chil- 
dren's souls,  as  well  as  in  those  of  maturer  youth,  to  live 
out  externally  the  divine  ideas  it  has  brought  into  the 
world,  to  bring  its  ideal  to  the  light  in  deeds,  and  to 
evolve  its  undeveloped,  fermenting,  creative  force.  In 
vain  it  stretches  out  its  arms  for  a  leader,  in  vain  lifts  its 
wings  to  rise  into  the  heaven  of  the  beautiful,  the  good, 
and  the  true ;  the  earthly  weight  draws  it  down,  the  fet- 
ters laid  on  it  from  birth  hinder  and  circumscribe  its 
flight,  and  the  dust  of  the  surrounding  atmosphere  con- 
ceals the  forms  of  light  which  had  allured  it.  Then 
comes  more  and  more  the  desire  of  enjoyment,  which 
should  seek  something  higher,  and  which  takes  the  senses 
into  its  pay,  and  genius  sinks  extinguished  in  ordinary 
men,  or  becomes  a  Lucifer  separated  from  its  own  ideal, 
turning  itself  away  from  God,  its  source. 

"  So  have  all  human  souls,  devoted  to  the  ideal,  strug- 
gled in  all  time  hitherto,  always  in  the  minority,  the  ex- 
ceptions in  the  world  whose  careers  have  been  ordered 
by  the  majority,  according  to  its  own  needs  and  wishes. 
Supposing  it  to  be  true  that  the  mass  of  people  are 
necessary  to  the  earth  as  ballast,  and  will  never  be  ex- 
tinct in  spite  of  all  culture,  then  progress  can  only  be 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  59 

conceived  of  in  this  way,  namely,  that  the  time  must 
come  when  those  inspired  by  genius,  the  nobler  souls  of 
humanity,  will  be  the  majority  and  direct  and  govern  life 
according  t6  its  needs  and  wishes. 

"  And  if  it  should  soon  be  that  those  who  are  now  the 
exceptions  shall  no  longer  need  to  live  as  pariahs  and 
martyrs,  forced  to  submit  to  the  vulgarity  and  arrogance 
of  the  masses,  a  complete  transformation  would  have 
been  effected  !  The  law  by  which  the  higher  must  domi- 
nate and  absorb  the  lower,  or  at  least  transform  it,  will 
lead  necessarily  to  this  result  in  the  intellectual  world. 
From  the  carrying  out  of  your  method  of  education,  I 
expect  immediately  the  awakening  and  unfolding  of  the 
creative  powers  in  the  souls  of  children  to  be  the  coun- 
terpoise to  the  perverse  influence  of  generations  of  men 
bound  into  solidarity  by  the  errors  and  sins  of  ancestors, 
and  also  to  get  rid  of  numberless  roundabout  and  indirect 
ways  in  the  labor  and  efforts  which  are  necessary  for 
reaching  the  general  as  well  as  the  individual  aims  of 
every  one. 

"  If  it  should  demand  centuries  in  order  fully  to  reach 
this  end,  to  which  the  co-operation  of  very  many  other 
things  besides  is  necessary,  the  object  is  so  great  and  so 
beautiful  that  it  is  worthy  every  effort.  If  we  shall  suc- 
ceed in  awakening  countless  divine  sparks  in  humanity, 
then  single  ones  will  cease  to  shine  pre-eminently. 

"The  more  I  understand  your  idea  of  education,  the 
more  I  see  the  important  influence  women  may  exert 
upon  the  development  of  human  society.  If  they  are 
fitted  by  your  science  of  motherhood  to  do  for  families 
in  general,  by  means  of  an  education  consciously  under- 
stood and  adapted  to  the  child's  nature,  what  hitherto  a 


60  REMINISCENCES  OF   FROEBEL. 

few  distinguished  women  only  have  been  able  to  do,  the 
foundation  of  at  least  universal  morality  will  be  laid. 
As  the  kindergarten  and  that  which  follows  it  in  your 
method  furnishes  the  elements  of  knowledge  for  all, 
by  opening  the  outer  and  inner  eye,  preparing  the  way 
for  original  thinking,  and  already  in  childhood  van- 
quishing aversion  to  labor  by  freely  exercised  powers 
and  habits  of  continuous  activity,  there  is  a  degree  of 
culture  attainable  by  every  one,  and  at  the  same  time 
the  way  is  opened  for  the  more  gifted  to  cultivate  them- 
selves further  according  to  their  powers  and  talents,  and 
to  rise  to  higher  planes.  More  than  this  cannot  be  at- 
tained on  account  of  the  great  differences  of  natural 
endowment,  nor  can  more  be  reasonably  demanded  for 
the  universal  culture  of  the  people.  By  it  also  the  founda- 
tion will  be  laid  for  women  to  cultivate  themselves  more 
generally,  according  to  their  talents,  and  the  exceptions 
to  this  rule  can  be  of  use  in  solving  higher  problems 
than  the  ordinary  ones.  Only  when  their  own  thoughts 
and  modes  of  observation  are  allowed,  or  made  possible, 
to  the  intellect  of  women,  can  it  develop  its  own  indi- 
viduality to  the  fullest  extent,  and  can  the  feminine 
genius  really  show  what  it  can  accomplish.  This  goal 
lies  yet  in  the  far  distance,  and  great  impediments  will 
make  it  difficult  of  attainment,  but  it  must  be  attained 
if  there  is  to  be  any  progress." 

After  we  had  discussed  this  subject  still  further,  and 
had  found  ourselves  generally  in  accordance,  Froebel 
said  :  "  Yes,  women  are  my  natural  allies,  and  they  ought 
to  help  me,  for  I  bring  to  them  what  shall  relieve  them 
of  their  inner  and  outer  fetters,  terminate  their  tutelage, 
and  restore  their  dignity  with  that  of  still  undervalued 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  6 1 

childhood.  But  whoever  will  work  with  me  must  under- 
take a  great  deal,  must  suffer  ridicule  and  blame,  and  let 
themselves  be  burnt  or  torn  in  pieces.  Can  you  do 
that  ? " 

"  I  hope  I  could  do  it ;  but  if  I  should  be  burnt  up  I 
cannot  do  anything  more  for  the  cause,"  I  said,  laughing. 
At  that  time  I  knew  nothing  of  the  moral  funeral  pyres 
which  awaited  me  because  I  defended  the  idea  and 
method  of  Froebel  against  those  who  abused  it  for  per- 
sonal ends,  or  I  should  not  have  laughed. 


1  CHAPTER    VI. 

VISIT   OF   DR.    GUSTAV   KUHNE. 

IN  the  course  of  the  summer  many  visitors,  among 
them  some  well-known  and  distinguished  men,  came 
to  Liebenstein,  who  sought  out  the  "  old  friend  "  of  chil- 
dren in  Marienthal.  Of  this  number  was  Dr.  Gustav 
Kiihne,  the  well-known  poet  and  author,  and  at  that 
time  editor  of  the  Europa.  He  entered  into  our  small 
circle  with  true  warmth  of  heart,  and  often  brightened 
it  with  his  sparkling  humor. 

Froebel  and  his  efforts  were  known  to  him  at  that 
time  only  by  hearsay,  and  in  response  to  my  first  invita- 
tion to  him  to  go  to  Marienthal,  he  said  he  had  come 
to  Liebenstein  not  to  study  new  methods,  but  to  give 
himself  up  to  dglce  far  niente  and  the  enjoyment  of 
nature. 

It  was  difficult  at  all  times  to  induce  the  visitors  at 


62  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

Liebenstein  baths  to  go  to  Marienthal  for  the  serious 
purpose  of  being  converted  to  a  new  method,  for  the 
other  walks  were  more  attractive  to  the  majority,  and 
at  a  watering-place  people  gladly  avoid  all  intellectual 
exertion. 

But  one  afternoon  a  few  ladies  and  gentlemen  made 
the  plan  of  visiting  the  "  Morgenthor  "  on  the  Altenstein, 
and  calling  at  Marienthal  on  their  return.  Dr.  Kiihne 
joined  the  party  without  knowing  of  this  last  intention, 
and  when,  during  the  walk,  I  alluded  to  the  projected 
visit  to  Froebel,  he  began  to  banter  me  about  my  enthu- 
siasm for  "  panaceas  for  the  redemption  of  the  world," 
adding  that  every  possible  advantage  which  Froebel's 
method  could  include  had  its  real  basis  in  the  idea  and 
method  of  Pestalozzi,  who  had  already  uttered  the  word 
of  our  time  for  educational  reform,  and  there  was  nothing 
to  be  done  but  to  build  further  on  that  foundation. 

"  What  more  can  Froebel  desire,"  said  he,  "  than  an 
education  conformed  to  nature  from  the  cradle  up,  the 
grounding  of  all  instruction  upon  observation,  the  union 
of  physical  labor  with  learning,  the  exclusion  of  all  arti- 
ficial support  or  the  forcing  of  matters  foreign  and  con- 
tradictory to  child-nature  ?  Pestalozzi  has  offered  all  this 
already." 

"  Froebel's  method,"  I  replied,  "  not  only  harmonizes 
with  that  of  Pestalozzi,  but  receives  into  itself  whatever 
is  good  and  right  in  it,  and  not  this  only,  but  it  has  some- 
thing new  and  different  to  offer.  Moreover,  I  will  add 
that  I  look  neither  upon  Froebel's  nor  Pestalozzi's  sys- 
tem as  a  '  panacea  for  the  redemption  of  the  world,'  for 
I  see  very  well  that  as  it  has  been  in  former  times,  so  it 
is  now.  Many  and  various  levers  are  needed  to  bring 


REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL.  63 

about  the  reforms  demanded  of  the  times.  Therefore 
no  irony. 

"  In  my  opinion,  Pestalozzi  and  Froebel  are  laboring 
for  the  improvement  of  mankind  in  different  fields,  one 
of  which  is  as  important  as  the  other.  The  general  prin- 
ciples enunciated  by  them  both  were  already  set  forth  by 
their  predecessors  and  recognized  by  all  thinkers  as  just. 
But  the  main  point  is  still  the  complete  application  of 
these  principles.  The  practical  means  necessary  and  suf- 
ficient for  this  will  be  found  only  by  degrees  and  through 
experience,  by  means  of  new  prophets. 

"  Froebel's  ideas  with  respect  to  the  earliest  education 
from  the  cradle  up  are  quite  different  from  those  of  Pes- 
talozzi. They  are  founded  on  a  new  theory  of  the  child's 
nature,  even  if  they  do  not  contradict  Pestalozzi's,  but 
the  practical  means  to  carry  out  his  ideas  are  offered  by 
Froebel,  not  by  Pestalozzi ;  for  by  Froebet  the  instinct 
and  educational  intuition  of  the  mother  are  first  elevated 
to  an  intelligent  mode  of  action,  and  the  right  means  for 
this  are  presented  to  them. 

"  And  that  is  an  important  factor  if  the  earliest  educa- 
tion is,  in  truth,  to  lay  the  foundation  for  all  succeeding 
stages.  There  can  be  no  such  thing  as  education  in  the 
cradle,  unless  the  object  of  it  and  the  means  for  it  are 
intelligently  recognized  and  applied  by  mothers  and 
teachers.  Otherwise  there  will  be  as  heretofore  merely 
physical  care ;  but  education  has  also  to  do  with  the  soul. 
Froebel  teaches  the  right  way  to  deal  with  the  child's 
soul  as  it  gradually  awakes  from  unconsciousness,  and 
he  can  do  it  because  he  understands  clearly  the  relation 
between  the  unconscious  condition  of  childhood  and  the 
consciousness  of  the  mature  mind. 


64  REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL. 

"  That  is  one  thing ;  but  in  another  direction  he  goes 
beyond  Pestalozzi.  Instead  of  the  principle  of  observa- 
tion on  which  Pestalozzi  rests,  Froebel  combines  doing 
with  observing.  Then  he  lets  children  represent  their 
observations  objectively  and  certainly,  not  only  by  imita- 
tion but  freely  by  remembrance,  which  thereby  prepares 
for  inventive  activity.  In  this  way  only  is  Pestalozzi's 
demand,  that  of  combining  power  of  action  (konnen)  with 
knowledge,  fully  realized. 

"  The  using  of  labor  as  a  means  of  education  was 
limited  by  Pestalozzi  to  mechanical  work  and  cultivation 
of  the  ground.  Froebel's  method  proposes  to  banish  all 
that  is  merely  mechanical,  and  offers  the  means  of  me- 
thodically exercising  the  limbs  and  senses  in  every  pro- 
ductive work,  and  also  of  uniting  with  this  gymnastics 
of  the  intellectual  powers  and  capacities ;  children  are 
thereby  elevated  to  productive  activity  in  the  full  sense 
of  the  word,  and  artistic  conception  will  be  prepared  for 
wherever  the  inborn  capacity  for  it  exists. 

"  Has  not  the  intellectual  consciousness  that  stamps 
the  productive  works  of  an  author,  and  makes  it  his  own 
spiritual  property,  great  importance  for  the  education  of 
the  people  where  the  position  of  the  working-class  is 
daily  becoming  higher  and  higher,  on  which  the  solution 
of  the  social  question  in  a  great  part  depends  ? " 

"The  peculiarities  of  Froebel's  method  are  not  yet 
sufficiently  known  to  me,"  said  Dr.  Ku'hne,  "  to  enable 
me  to  judge  of  their  worth  in  this  respect ;  but  what  you 
say  impels  me  to  a  closer  examination  of  it.  But  let  us 
have  no  methods  that  are  to  bring  universal  salvation. 
The  world  has  already  seen  many  new  methods  and 
ideas,  and  yet  on  the  whole  remains  very  much  what  it 
was." 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  65 

"That  I  dispute,"  I  answered.  "The  world  and  the 
men  in  it  are  always  changing,  and  have  changed  from 
the  earliest  barbarism  to  the  present  stage  of  culture, 
although  it  moves  slowly,  and  this  is  the  consequence,  in 
part,  at  least,  of  new  methods  and  new  ideas." 

"  Yes,"  said  Kiihne,  "  but  the  civilized  barbarism  still 
remains ;  meanwhile  I  am  very  far,  as  you  know,  from 
denying  progress.  And  you  shall  be  satisfied  ;  I  also 
will  interest  myself  in  Froebel." 

"  If  we  weigh  the  value  of  Froebel  and  Pestalozzi  for 
educational  reform,"  I  remarked,  "  it  may  be  said  that  we 
chiefly  owe  to  Pestalozzi  the  transformation  in  the  nature 
of  instruction,  and  thereby  progress  in  the  cultivation  of 
/the  understanding,  while  Froebel  pre-eminently  takes  up 
education  as  a  whole,  including  moral  culture  and  the 

o  _  • 

development  of  character.  Froebel's  educational  thought 
rests  on  one  vital  point  not  very  easy  to  be  discovered, 
and  which  will  be  entirely  understood  and  valued  only  in 
the  course  of  time. 

"  But  what  is  the  use  of  putting  these  men  into  the 
scales  ?  To  each  his  own.  They  were  both  noble  and 
excellent  men,  true  to  nature,  and  original  as  few  men 
are,  and  they  had  this  in  common,  that  the  doctrine  grew 
out  of  the  ground  of  immediateness,  of  intuition,  and  was 
nothing  artificial  or  reflected,  and  that  is  one  of  the  guar- 
anties of  truth." 

We  had  now  arrived  at  the  gate  of  Marienthal,  and 
heard  the  voices  of  the  children  singing  in  the  kinder- 
garten, whom  Froebel  often  led  himself  in  the  afternoon, 
in  order  to  give  to  his  pupils  instruction  in  the  manner 
of  conducting  the  movement  plays.  He  was  in  the  midst 
of  the  troop  of  little  ones  when  we  entered. 


66  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

"  This,  then,  is  the  house  of  the  prophet,"  said  some 
one  in  our  party,  as  we  entered  the  great  courtyard  of 
the  Marienthal  house,  which  stood  back,  two  stories  high, 
with  a  front  of  eleven  windows,  looking  more  like  the 
dwelling-house  of  a  farm  than  like  a  castle,  but  pleasant 
and  homelike  in  the  midst  of  the  old  green  trees  that 
surrounded  it. 

In  a  large  square  before  the  house  door,  to  which  stone 
steps  led  up,  was  a  grass-plot  upon  which  was  planted 
some  shrubbery,  and  on  one  side  were  very  beautiful  old 
lindens,  which  in  flowering-time  spread  their  fragrance 
far  and  wide.  In  their,  shade  were  some  benches  and 
tables  on  which,  in  good  weather  in  summer,  Froebel  was 
accustomed  to  give  his  morning  lessons. 

At  the  moment  when  we  entered,  he  stood  in  the  midst 
of  the  courtyard  surrounded  by  his  pupils  and  a  troop  of 
little  children,  who  had  wound  themselves  round  him  as 
their  central  point  in  the  play  "  Little  thread,  little  thread, 
like  a  little  wheel,"  and  were  just  beginning  to  unwind 
their  skein  again.  With  glowing  face  and  eyes  beaming 
with  happiness,  Froebel  greeted  the  company,  immedi- 
ately asking  whether  they  would  like  to  see  some  of  the 
movement  plays  before  going  up  into  the  hall.  The 
guests  were  quite  willing.  With  truly  childish  delight  he 
again  conducted  some  of  those  ingenious  plays,  the  first 
gymnastics  of  the  childish  limbs.  These  he  had  copied 
from  the  traditional  plays  of  children  and  the  people, 
leaving  out  their  rougher  features  in  order  to  make  them 
serve  his  educational  idea  ;  partly  to  make  children  rep- 
resent, somewhat  dramatically,  facts  out  of  the  life  of 
nature  and  man. 

Froebel   said,  while   he  explained   the   plays   to   the 


REMINISCENCES    OF   FROEBEL.  6^ 

bystanders,  "  All  these  plays,  in  their  elements,  have 
originated  from  childish  instincts ;  but  they  must  be  con- 
sciously understood  in  their  meaning  and  airri,  in  order 
to  reach  their  educational  end.  People  think  the  child 
is  only  seeking  amusement  when  it  plays.  That  is  a  great 
error.  Play  is  the  first  means  of  development  of  the  hu- 
man mind,  its  first  effort  to  make  acquaintance  with  the 
outward  world,  to  collect  original  experiences  from  things 
and  facts,  and  to  exercise  the  powers  of  body  and  mind. 
The  child,  indeed,  recognizes  no  purpose  in  it  and  knows 
nothing,  in  the  beginning,  of  any  end  which  is  to  be  reached 
when  it  imitates  the  play  it  sees  around  it,  but  it  expresses 
its  own  nature,  and  that  is  human  nature,  in  its  playful 
activity.  The  further  its  development  proceeds  the  more 
significant  are  the  various  movements  which  we  know  as 
the  movements  of  the  human  being,  from  which  all  human 
culture  has  originated. 

"  But  this  is  only  the  case  when  these  movements  can 
express  themselves  unhindered  and  unfalsified,  and  the 
child's  nature  has  not  been  perverted  and  led  into  false 
paths.  The  human  instinct  needs  guidance  by  free  move- 
ments, while  the  brute  instinct  finds  its  goal  without 
guidance.  This  guidance  can  only  be  given  by  one  who 
knows  the  goal  which  is  to  be  reached  by  the  manifold 
activity  of  the  blind,  natural  feeling  of  the  child.  With- 
out rational,  conscious  guidance,  childish  activity  degen- 
erates into  aimless  play  instead  of  preparing  for  those 
tasks  of  life  for  which  it  is  destined." 

"  It  seems  to  me,"  said  one  friend,  "  that  such  continu- 
ous guidance  on  the  part  of  the  adult  must  take  away 
from  the  childish  play  its  artlessness." 

"  A  continuous  guidance  is  not  practised,"  said  Froe- 


68  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

bel ;  "the  children  have  the  larger  part  of  tne  day  to 
play  freely  among  themselves.  There  must  be  no  irri- 
tating oversight  over  them  ;  but  in  the  kindergarten  they 
are  guided  to  bring  out  their  plays  in  such  a  manner  as 
really  to  reach  the  aim  desired  by  nature,  that  is,  to  serve 
for  their  development.  Does  it  disturb  the  plant  in  its 
growth  when  the  gardener  protects  it,  prunes  it,  waters 
it,  takes  the  best  care  he  can  of  it  ?  Do  not  the  higher 
order  of  animals  teach  their  young  those  activities  which 
they  need  for  self-preservation  ?  For  example,  don't 
we  see  how  the  parent  birds  help  their  young  in  their 
first  flight?  The  younger  and  more  undeveloped  the 
little  creatures  are,  the  more  they  need  care  and  sup- 
port. The  weak  instinct  of  the  human  child  makes  it 
the  most  needy  of  all  creatures.  Do  we  follow  and  re- 
main true  to  nature  only  when  we  let  its  products  shoot  up 
without  care  ?  Without  care  even  plants  grow  rank  and 
wild.  All  nature  is  destined  for  culture  in  all  its  stages 
and  in  all  its  kingdoms.  But  culture  must  never  go 
against  nature.  On  the  contrary,  it  must  follow  its  order, 
take  into  account  its  ground  and  its  goal,  acknowledge 
its  law,  and  recognize  it  as  its  standard,  or  it  will  be  a 
false  culture. 

"  Human  culture  has  not  always  been  nature  becoming 
conscious  to  itself,  as  it  should  be ;  human  education 
needs  a  guide,  which  I  think  I  have  found  in  a  general 
law  of  development  that  rules  both  in  nature  and  in  the 
intellectual  world.  Without  law-abiding  guidance  there 
is  no  really  free  development.  You  see  what  national 
life  becomes  when  misunderstood  ideas  of  freedom  pro- 
scribe law." 

At  this  moment,  outside  the  gate,  the  rude  cry  of  some 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  69 

peasants  who  were  passing  was  heard,  and  Froebel  turned 
smiling  to  the  gentleman  who  had  made  that  remark, 
asking,  "  How  do  you  like  that  ?  Is  not  our  children's 
song  better  ?  Singing  must  be  learned  in  order  to  have 
agreeable  sounds.  Where  the  people  sing  well,  they  are 
seldom  rude." 

"  The  children's  singing  is  charming,"  said  one  of  the 
ladies  present.  "The  plays  are  so  touching  to  look 
upon,  that  I  can  scarcely  keep  back  my  tears.  No  one 
who  ever  sees  children  play  like  this  can  believe  they 
are  constrained,  or  deprived  of  their  freedom.  I  have 
never  seen  anything  so  artlessly  gay,  so  entirely  uncon- 
strained." 

"Yes,"  said  Froebel,  "the  kindergarten  is  the  free 
republic  *  of  childhood,  from  which  everything  dangerous 
to  its  morality  is  removed,  as  its  lack  of  development 
requires.  Childhood  must  be  taken  care  of  and  pro- 
tected, for  it  cannot  protect  itself,  and  the  more  tender 
the  age,  the  more  it  needs  guidance,  that  the  body  as 
well  as  the  soul  may  not  be  crippled." 

The  children  had  ended  their  play  and  had  sung  the 
closing  song,  and  were  led  to  the  door  by  the  young 
ladies  who  were  playing  with  them. 

Froebel  now  invited  the  company  to  follow  him  into 
the  upper  story  of  the  house,  where  he  resided.  He 
crossed  the  great  hall,  situated  in  the  midst  of  the 
rooms,  from  whose  four  windows  we  looked  out  upon 
the  lovely  landscape  as  far  as  to  the  distant  blue  moun- 
tains of  the  Rhone. 

*  The  word  republic  is  here  substituted  for  state  by  the  translator,  on 
account  of  the  double  meaning  of  the  latter.  In  this  place  it  does  not  mean 
condition.  —  TR. 


70  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

In  the  midst  of  the  hall  stood  a  long  table  covered 
with  Froebel's  "  gifts  for  play,"  and  a  multitude  of  little 
productions  of  children  from  various  kindergartens. 

The  same  gentleman,  a  privy  councillor  from  Berlin, 
who  had  made  some  objections  to  the  playing  of  the 
children,  and  had  also  repeatedly  opposed  my  statements, 
expressed  the  wish  to-  learn  the  art  and  manner  in  which 
Froebel  prepared  for  mathematical  ideas  by  his  plays 
and  occupations,  of  which  so  much  had  been  said.  This 
hitherto  very  cold  and  reserved  gentleman  became  quite 
animated  when  Froebel  formed  various  figures  with  his 
little  sticks,  and  then  explained  by  these  embodied  lines 
the  areas  enclosed  in  the  different  surfaces  and  angles, 
and  especially  the  relations  of  size  and  number  of  the 
geometrical  figures,  and  then  still  further  the  simple  rep- 
resentation of  the  numbers,  beginning  with  the  unit,  and 
showed  also  the  representations  of  form,  and  numbers 
with  other  materials. 

The  figures  made  with  the  little  sticks  were  only 
loosely  laid  together,  without  being  fastened,  but  broad 
slats  being  united  crosswise  and  interlaced  formed  per- 
manent figures.  Paper,  cut  in  squares  and  folded, 
showed  the  relations  of  surfaces,  and  also  geometrical 
forms.  The  perception  of  mathematical  relations,  as 
matters  of  fact,  needs  no  explanation.  The  child  under- 
stands, by  manipulation  of  various  materials,  and  by 
easily  comprehended  directions,  the  relations  of  size  and 
number,  as  simple  facts,  without  any  abstraction,  through 
mere  observation  of  the  forms  brought  out  from  them, 
without  reasoning  upon  it,  for  which  they  are  too  young. 

The  councillor  thought  these  demonstrations  were 
remarkably  clear  in  their  simplicity.  Only  he  doubted, 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  71 

in  a  measure,  whether  this  embodiment  of  abstractions 
could  lead  later  to  mathematical  conceptions,  which  are 
of  purely  intellectual  nature,  whose  analogies  are  only 
found  in  the  human  mind. 

"But  are  not  all  abstractions  derived  from  something 
actual  and  physical,  and  does  not  the  whole  material 
world  rest  upon  mathematical  relations,  —  indeed,  does 
not  all  and  everything  imply  relations  of  size  and  num- 
ber ? "  I  ventured  to  ask.  "  With  my  small  knowledge  of 
mathematics,  for  example,  it  would  be  quite  impossible 
for  me  to  understand  mathematical  truths,  if  I  could 
not  perceive  them  by  means  of  a  visible  representation. 
Therefore  it  seems  to  me  quite  undoubted  that  if  these 
truths  are  to  be  taught  and  conceived  by  means  of  words, 
the  preceding  perception  'of  physical  relations  is  needed 
to  explain  them  completely.  According  to  Froebel's 
method,  the  child,  like  the  uncultivated  artisan,  makes 
progressive  experiments  which  teach  it  by  experience, 
and  by  this  way  of  experience  men  arrived  originally  at 
knowledge ;  can  mathematical  knowledge  be  any  excep- 
tion to  this?  Mathematics  remain  the  same  whether 
expressed  in  the  human  mind  or  in  the  physical  world, 
and  the  logic  of  both,  therefore,  has  only  one  source,  — 
the  Divine  mind." 

The  councillor  smiled,  and  said  :  "  Much  may  be  said 
upon  that,  but  we  must  not  mix  up  the  intellectual  with 
the  physical  too  much." 

"  A  dualistic  theory  of  the  world,"  whispered  my  neigh- 
bor on  the  other  side  ;  and  a  young  painter  sitting  oppo- 
site turned  and  asked  Froebel,  somewhat  impatiently, 
whether  the  contemplation  of  the  beautiful,  at  the  child- 
age,  would  not  be  more  conducive  to  the  awakening  of 


72  REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL. 

the  imagination  than  occupation  with  mathematical  fig- 
ures, which  are  not  beautiful. 

"  You  are  quite  right,"  answered  Froebel ;  "  the  beauti- 
ful is  the  best  means  of  education  for  childhood,  as  it 
has  been  the  best  means  for  the  education  of  the  human 
race.  Look,  here  are  my  forms  of  beauty."  And  he 
unrolled  a  long  strip  of  paper  on  which  was  lithographed 
a  series  of  figures,  quite  simple  and  symmetrical,  copies 
of  the  forms  laid  by  the  children  with  delight,  with  Froe- 
bel's  eight  cubes.  "These  forms,  in  spite  of  their  regu- 
larity, are  called  forms  of  beauty.  The  mathemaiical 
form s^  which  I  designate  forms  of  knowledge,  give  only 
the  skeleton  from  which  the  beautiful  form  develops 
itself.  Look  at  the  figures  on  the  old  Egyptian  build- 
ings ;  they  are  always  straight  lines  which  show  mathe- 
matical relations.  Not  until  you  get  to  the  curve  line, 
which  came  forth  latef  in  the  development  of  art,  do  you 
have  beauty  of  form.  I  take  the  same  course  in  my 
educational  method.  Symmetry  of  the  parts  which  make 
up  these  simple  figures  gives  the  impression  of  beauty  as 
harmony  to  the  childish  eye.  It  must  have  the  elements 
of  the  beautiful  before  it  is  in  a  condition  to  comprehend 
it  in  its  whole  extent.  Only  what  is  simple  gives  light 
to  the  child  at  first.  He  can  only  operate  with  a  small 
number  of  materials  when  he  is  beginning  to  make  forms, 
therefore  I  give  only  eight  cubes  for  this  object.  But  the 
material  for  making  forms  increases  by  degrees,  pro- 
gressing according  to  law,  as  nature  prescribes.  The 
simple  wild-rose  existed  before  the  double  one  was 
formed  by  careful  culture.  Children  are  too  often  over- 
whelmed with  quantity  and  variety  of  material,  that 
makes  formation  impossible  to  them.  And  where  shall 


REMINISCENCES    OF   FROEBEL.  73 

we  take  the  rule,  if  not  from  nature  ?  We  mortals  can 
only  imitate  what  the  dear  God  has  created,  therefore 
we  must  make  use  of  the  same  law  according  to  which 
he  creates. 

"With  this  law  I  give  children  a  guide  for  creatingj 
and  because  it  is  the  law  according  to  which  they,  as 
creatures  of  God,  have  themselves  been  created,  they 
can  easily  apply  it.  It  is  born  with  them,  and  it  also 
guides  the  animal  instinct  in  its  activity. 

"  You  see,"  he  went  on,  turning  with  shining  eyes  to 
the  company,  "  the  time  has  now  arrived  when  men  are 
coming  to  the  consciousness  of  their  own  being  and  of 
the  law  which  rules  them,  and  according  to  which  they 
are  active,  therefore  the  earliest  childhood  must  be 
guided  according  to  this  law,  and  at  first  in  the  activity 
of  play.  Consciousness  of  the  law  is  only  prepared  for 
by  action  and  the  application  of  the  law.  Unconscious- 
ness is  raised  to  consciousness  chiefly  by  action." 

Froebel  illustrated  these  remarks  by  some  examples, 

i  showing  how  the  law,  which  he  named  "  connection  of 

)  opposites,"  was  applied  in  .the  childish  occupations,  but 

nevertheless  he  was  not  completely  intelligible  to  most 

of  those  present. 

New  views  can  break  their  way  only  gradually,  after  the 
general  theory  out  of  which  they  have  sprung  has  been 
well  diffused.  Froebel's  theory  rested  upon  a  profound 
intuition,  which  will  be  looked  upon  as  hypothesis  until 
its  law,  or  rather  the  application  of  it  (for  the  recogni- 
tion of  the  law  in  general  is  as  old  as  philosophic  think- 
ing), is  scientifically  established,  and  that  by  the  empirical 
method  of  investigation. 

A  question  of  Dr.  Kuhne's  about  the  teaching  of  Ian- 


74  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

guage  according  to  his  method,  plunged  Froebel  into 
explanations  about  the  origin  of  letters,  their  significance 
in  relation  to  ideas,  and  the  like,  a  matter  which  involved 
him  in  inquiries  of  a  scientific  nature  too  deep  to  have 
an  educational  importance  at  present,  but  interesting  as 
the  original  beginning  of  all  and  every  side  of  human 
nature.* 

By  such  digressions  from  his  subject,  in  which  Froebel 
often  pursued  his  own  thoughts  without  respect  to  his 
hearers,  though  revealing  new  relations  of  his  idea,  he 
often  greatly  confused  his  statements  and  gave  room  for 
the  criticism  that  they  were  incomprehensible. 

Dr.  Kuhne  was  led  to  the  remark,  "Froebel  reminds 
me  of  that  wise  man  of  antiquity  who  discovered  a  nat- 
ural law  while  in  the  bath,  and  ran  naked  through  the 
streets,  dripping  from  the  tub,  shouting,  'Eureka!  Eu- 
reka!'" 

In  spite  of  these  confusing  digressions,  Froebel's  state- 
ments always  called  forth  warm  commendations  from 
receptive  minds,  as  a  real  strong  conviction  of  truth 
alone  can  do. 

it 

Some  of  the  ladies  present,  wearied  with  the  disserta- 
tions of  the  men  upon  the  origin  of  letters,  were  examin- 
ing the  various  productions  of  the  kindergarten,  and 
could  scarcely  believe  that  very  young  children  could 
produce  such. 

*  Before  the  date  of  .this  conversation  Dr.  Kraitsir,  the  Hungarian  phi- 
lologist, had  published  in  Boston  his  "  Significance  of  the  Alphabet,"  and 
endeavored  to  show  its  value  for  the  education  of  the  present.  It  was  ably 
reviewed  by  one  of  our  greatest  scholars  in  the  "  North  American  Review  "  of 
the  spring  of  1848,  and  in  1851  Dr.  Howard  Crosby,  of  the  New  York  Uni- 
versity, succeeded  in  publishing  by  subscription  in  New  York  Dr.  Krait- 
sir's  fuller  work,  "  The  Nature  of  Language  and  the  Language  of  Nature," 
G.  P.  Putnam,  1851.— TR. 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  75 

"  It  is  all  very  charming,"  said  one  of  the  ladies,  "  but 
it  seems  to  me  the  effort  must  be  too  great  for  the  tender 
age  of  children.  In  the  first  years  of  life,  I  think  chil- 
dren should  only  play  undisturbed  as  they  can  and 
will." 

"  Certainly,"  I  replied  ;  "  but  if  the  child  is  to  find  sat- 
isfaction in  his  play,  the  aim  of  nature  must  be  reached, 
and  this  aim  is  bodily  and  mental  development.  Play  — 
that  is,  the  first  childish  activity  —  is  now  left  to  chance, 
therefore  it  reaches  its  aim  but  imperfectly ;  it  needs 
guidance,  and  this  guidance  every  genuine  mother  and 
educator  naturally  gives,  when  the  child  desires  it,  as  is 
always  the  case.  '  Play  with  me  ! '  is  the  cry  of  every 
child  who  has  not  playmates  of  its  own  age.*  A  child 
can  play  only  for  a  time  by  itself,  and  with  dolls,  or 
prattle  to  the  creations  of  its  own  imagination  ;  then 
it  comes  with  its  never-ceasing  questions  to  the  grown- 
up,—  a  living  note  of  interrogation,  which  it  must  be  in 
order  to  develop  it^  mind.  Even  when  these  questions 
are  answered  suitably  to  the  requirement  (and  how  often 
does  this  happen  with  the  otherwise  busy  mother  or 
nurse  ?)  it  is  only  in  words,  rarely  understood  well  by  the 
child.  It  is  necessary  first  to  know  the  things  that  words 
describe,  —  that  is,  matter  and  its  properties.  Froebel's 
gifts  and  occupations  offer  just  this  knowledge. 

"The  material  prepared  for  this  end  furnishes  oppor- 
tunity to  make  experiments  on  material  things,  and  it  is 
that  which  the  child  seeks  in  the  blind  gropings  of  his 
undeveloped  impulses.  The  effort  of  his  little  powers 
is  increased  by  giving  him  the  requisite  material,  and 

*  They  always  prefer  mamma,  if  they  can  have  her,  for  a  playmate,  and 
is  not  this  because  they  enjoy  the  guidance  ?  —  TR. 


76  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

showing  him  the  right  use  of  it ;  or  rather  is  not  the 
thing  made  easier  for  him  thereby  ? 

"For  example,  the  child  tries  to  make  a  form  out  of  a 
piece  of  paper,  —  a  box,  a  little  bird,  or  something  else. 
He  does  net  succeed,  because  the  paper  has  not  the 
right  form,  and  he  does  not  know  the  requisite  manipu- 
lations. In  the  kindergarten  he  receives  paper  of  a 
square  form,  and  is  shown  how  he  can  bring  out  the  de- 
sired thing  from  it.  Besides  that,  he  is  instructed  in  an 
easy  manner  how  to  invent  new  forms  at  pleasure,  in 
endless  variety,  by  application  of  Froebel's  law  of  forma- 
tion. The  forms  and  figures  thus  brought  out,  which, 
going  from  the  simplest,  proceed  step  by  step  easily  to 
the  most  complex,  only  appear  difficult  and  beyond  the 
child's  powers  when  we  do  not  know  how  they  have  pro- 
ceeded from  each  other." 

I  showed  the  ladies  the  beginning  of  Froebel's  cutting 
occupation,  by  which,  with  two  or  three  cuts  in  squares 
of  paper,  folded  in  a  certain  way,  the  most  varied  forms 
are  obtained,  and  it  called  forth  general  surprise  and 
astonishment. 

"  That  is  remarkable,  truly  splendid  !  "  said  the  lady, 
who  had  raised  the  objection.  "  Now  I  understand  the 
thing,  and  I  take  back  my  remark." 

"  In  such  ways,"  I  added,  "  the  child  learns  by  playing 
the  most  important  mechanical  manipulations,  and  his 
sense  of  form  and  beauty  is  cultivated.  The  important 
thing  is  that  he  becomes  accustomed  to  consecutive 
action,  and  by  productive  occupation,  which  gives  him 
real  pleasure,  is  made  capable  very  early  of  useful  little 
acts,  and  is  prepared  for  later  work.  Moral  gain  is  at- 
tained in  the  highest  degree,  and  how  necessary  is  this 
in  our  time ! 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  77 

"All   that   the   development   of   human   culture   has 
gradually  found  and  practised  by  experiment,  discovery, 
and  invention  in  the   course  of  thousands  of  years  is 
recognized  by  Froebel  in  his  principle  of  LAW  ;  and  the 
technical  skill  thereby  gained  he  has  reduced    to   the 
simplest  and  most  original  manipulations,  in  order  to  at- 
tain the  universal  elements  of  proper  work  for  childhood. 
"These  occupations,   however,    like   everything   else, 
can  be   misused  if  unintelligent  kindergartners  occupy 
the  children  too  long,  or  give  them  too  difficult  tasks." 
"  A  remarkable  discovery ! " 
"  Truly,  full  of  significance  for  our  time !  " 
"  Who  could  have  looked  for  such  genius  in  this  plain 
and  unprepossessing  man  ? " 

"  How  touchingly  childlike  in  his  whole  manner ! " 
"  To  devote  his  whole  life  to  the  welfare  of  mankind 
in  childhood !  " 

Such  were  the  various  exclamations  concerning  Froe- 
bel, and  his  method  of  education,  by  the  several  indi- 
viduals of  the  company  during  our  half-hour's  walk  back 
from  Marienthal  to  Liebenstein.  They  all  expressed 
themselves  greatly  satisfied  with  the  visit,  and  with  Froe- 
bel's  method  of  education.  Even  the  Berlin  councillor 
thought  "the  use  of  Froebel's  method,  especially  for 
mathematics,  might  bring  about  a  very  important  reform 
in  schools." 

Dr.  Kiihne  said  :  "  The  thing  is  really  of  great  impor- 
tance, and  supplements  Pestalozzi's  method.  This  Froe- 
bel is  an  exceptional,  a  rare  man  ;  so  much  poetical  ele- 
vation in  his  simple,  homely  way  of  acting,  and  such  joy 
in  self-sacrifice  as  his  are  necessary  if  a  universal,  hu- 
mane work  is  to  succeed." 


78  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

"  And  now,  will  you  set  your  pen  in  motion  in  favor 
of  the  subject  ? "  I  asked. 

"  I  will  seek  for  some  way  in  which  I  can  further  it," 
said  Dr.  Kiihne.  And  he  kept  his  word ;  for  in  the  very 
next  number  of  the  Europa  he  described  his  "  Thurin- 
gian  Wanderings,"  which  in  novel  form  gave  the  visit  to 
Marienthal,  mingling  truth  and  poetry;  and,  later,  a 
biographical  sketch  of  "  Froebel  and  his  Efforts."  This 
was  republished  in  a  fuller  form  in  the  book  entitled 
"  German  Men  and  Women,"  and  after  Froebel's  death 
appeared  a  pamphlet  entitled  "  Froebel's  Death,  and  the 
Success  of  his  Teaching."  For  this  last  great  thanks  are 
due  to  Dr.  Kiihne,  for  he  was  the  first  well-known  writer, 
not  pedagogical,  who  turned  his  attention  to  Froebel's 
cause,  and  by  his  pen  introduced  him  into  circles  which 
otherwise  never  would  have  known  him. 

Whether  the  warmly  expressed  recognition  given  by 
other  members  of  this  little  walking  party  ever  brought 
any  practical  support  to  the  cause  is  not  known  to  me. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

VISIT  OF  DR.   HIECKE. 

WHEN  Froebel  came,  on  one  of  the  following  after- 
noons, to  the  "private  hour"  that  had  been 
agreed  upon  between  us,  I  informed  him  that  the  gym- 
nasium director,  Hiecke  of  Merseburg,  had  just  been 
with  me,  and  that  he  was  desirous  of  making  Froebel's 
acquaintance,  and  would  come  to  Marienthal  with  me 
on  the  following  day. 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  79 

"  Ah !  the  gentleman  who  asked  me  those  peculiar 
questions,  which  you  sent  to  me  last  winter  from  Merse- 
burg  ?  "  asked  Froebel. 

"  The  same,"  I  answered ;  "  one  of  the  most  learned 
and  distinguished  of  our  contemporary  school-directors, 
who  can  be  of  great  use  to  us  if  he  will  take  up  the  sub- 
ject." 

During  a  sojourn  of  several  weeks  in  Merseburg,  in 
February  of  this  year,  where  I  had  given  almost  daily 
lectures  on  Froebel's  educational  method,  some  of  my 
most  zealous  auditors — besides  my  friends  School- 
councillor  Karo  and  his  charming  wife  —  were  Profes- 
sors Hiecke  and  Wieck,  the  old  blind  privy  councillor 
Weisse,  brother  of  Froebel's  former  superior  at  the  Ber- 
lin Museum,  and  the  School-director  Liiben,  who  had 
just  entered  upon  his  duties  there. 

Whoever  saw  these  men,  and  others,  especially  teach- 
ers of  the  town-school  there,  and  saw  how  enthusiastically 
they  received  Froebel's  idea,  and  undertook  to  study  it, 
and  to  further  its  extension,  would  hardly  understand, 
in  view  of  this  example,  which  was  followed  by  others 
without  number,  why  the  cause  advanced  so  slowly  and 
painfully  to  recognition.  Those  here  mentioned  have, 
however,  favored  it  honestly,  and  even  in  the  public 
press.  At  that  time  Director  Liiben  had  some  articles 
in  recommendation  of  it  printed  in  the  Merseburg  weekly 
paper. 

The  letters  sent  to  Froebel  from  there  (which,  among 
my  letters  returned  to  me  by  Madame  Froebel,  lie  be- 
fore me)  contain  expressions  of  the  highest  and  deepest 
acknowledgment  from  my  auditors  of  that  time.  It  is 
there  said,  among  other  things  :  "  Hiecke,  a  philosophi- 


80  REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL. 

V 

cally  cultivated  mind,  has  talked  much  and  profoundly 
with  me  about  your  idea  and  method.  He  said  the  sub- 
ject was  one  of  the  most  far-reaching  importance,  incal- 
culable in  its  consequences,"  etc.  He  was  especially 
interested  in  the  fundamental  idea  of  "  sphere,  cube,  and 
cylinder,"  and  he  said,  when  I  explained  it  to  him, 
"Had  Froebel  expressed  this  idea  alone,  it  could  be 
called  a  great  deed.  It  is  possible  for  Froebel's  cause 
to  advance  so  suddenly  into  general  acceptance  that 
within  a  year  his  judgment  may  have  authority  in  all 
Germany.  But  for  that  there  must  be  able  co-operation 
through  the  press,  and  its  relations  to  present  politics 
must  not  be  forgotten." 

I  said  to  Froebel,  "When  I  spoke  to  Hiecke  and 
Wieck  on  the  following  day,  they  said  that  they  had  been 
occupied  day  and  night  in  thinking  of  your  educational 
idea,  and  would  like  to  know  how  you  stood  with  Krause 
and  Herbart.  These  questions  I  was  not  able  to  answer 
sufficiently.  But  the  idea  has  struck  a  spark  in  these 
minds,  and  you  will  be  convinced  of  this,  if  these  men 
come  to  you  in  Marienthal,  as  Hiecke  and  Liiben 
propose  to  do. 

"  Hiecke  desires  to  know  your  answers  to  the  ques- 
tions noted  on  the  accompanying  sheet.  He  has  com- 
missioned me  to  express  to  you  his  regards,  and  his  wish 
to  make  your  acquaintance.  At  my  request  he  sends 
you  herewith  two  copies  of  the  '  Educational  Monthly,' 
which  contain  two  essays  of  his.  He  will  request  his 
friend  Gude  to  make  himself  acquainted  with  your  cause, 
and,  as  much  as  possible,  from  your  own  lips.  The 
other  schoolmen  also  have  had  communication  with  their 
colleagues  on  the  subject. 


REMINISCENCES    OF    FROEBEL.  8 1 

"  You  see,  then,  Merseburg  is  favorable  to  us,  and  our 
cause  has  gained  here  a  real  triumph,  although  it  was 
before  entirely  unknown.  The  higher  circles  of  society, 
indeed,  are  here,  as  everywhere,  lethargic  and  indifferent 
about  important  things." 

So  far  the  extracts  from  my  letter  to  Froebel.  The 
questions  asked  Froebel  by  Hiecke  (which  also  lie  before 
me)  are  as  follows  :  — 

"  i.  What  is  the  course  of  development  under  your 
system  up  to  the  age  of  18  -  20  years  ? 

"  2.  What  use  do  you  make  of  foreign  languages ;  and 
the  order  and  distribution  of  these  over  the  different  ages? 

"  3.  The  choice,  order,  and  ages  for  the  epoch-making 
achievements  in  the  various  arts,  e.  g.  the  use  of  the 
Odyssey  ? 

"4.  What  German  poets,  and  in  what  order,  would 
you  use  chiefly  ? 

"  5.  How  far  and  in  what  way  should  Tradition  be 
regarded  ? " 

Froebel  had  never  answered  these  questions,  — which, 
indeed,  lay  very  far  from  the  educational  field  in  which  he 
was  working,  —  and  had  written  to  me  on  a  former  occa- 
sion, when  I  reminded  him  of  them,  "  that  they  could 
be  answered  in  his  sense  only  after  a  better  understand- 
ing of  his  educational  cause,  which  rested  on  a  different 
foundation  from  those  questions,  the  details  of  which  had 
scarcely  been  considered  by  him,"  etc. 

Froebel  said  the  same  thing  at  this  time,  and  added, 
with  childish  naivete,  "  I  wish  these  learned  men  would 


82  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

not  always  ask  me  about  things  that  they  understand 
much  better  than  J  do!" 

"The  schoolmen  will  want  the  connection  of  your 
educational  method  with  school-instruction  to  be  fully 
explained  if  they  are  to  give  it  —  or,  perhaps,  indeed, 
take  away  from  it — their  interest,"  I  replied.  "The  ear- 
liest childhood  is  too  far  distant  from  them,  even  if  they 
are  fathers  of  families,  and  the  majority  reject  any  plan 
of  methodically  influencing  the  early  years. 

"  They  have  no  idea  that  you  have  to  do  with  the  prin- 
ciple of  the  development  of  the  human  being,  and  not 
with  methods  of  instruction  in  the  school.  To  questions 
asked  with  this  view  I  continually  make  answer  that  you 
agree  with  Pestalozzi's  method,  that  you  desire  only  to 
supplement  it  and  to  add  some  things  to  it,  and  to  bring 
the  school  into  nearer  relation  with  real  life." 

"Very  well,"  said  Froebel ;  "but  for  this  purpose  I 
propose  to  take,  in  one  way  and  another,  many  hours 
from  school-lessons,  to  devote  to  educational  work.  And 
this  will  not  be  listened  to  by  the  learned  men,  who 
see  salvation  in  the  amount  of  knowledge  which  the 
school  gives  to  its  pupils  for  their  life-journey,  as  if  all 
must  or  even  could  be  learned  men !  You  know  what 
M.  and  S.  said  about  that,  and  how  they  made  the 
strongest  opposition  to  your  painstaking  for  the  kinder- 
gartens, and  how  they  turned  the  mind  of  Minister  W., 
who  was  already  half  won  over." 

"The  minister  is  coming  here,  nevertheless,  to  ac- 
quaint himself  with  the  subject  and  with  yourself,"  I 
answered,  "  and,  indeed,  very  soon.  But  you  must  not 
class  Hiecke  with  these  people ;  he  is  not  so  one-sided. 
On  the  contrary,  he  takes  a  broad  view,  and  is  capable 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  83 

of  enthusiasm.  And  you  must  not  forget  when  you  talk 
with  him  that  he  is  a  philologist  and  a  philosopher,  and 
not  a  natural  philosopher  in  your  sense." 

Much  as  Froebel  liked  visits,  and  especially  those  of 
educators,  which  gave  him  an  opportunity  to  explain  his 
educational  method,  yet  he  was  somewhat  afraid  of  them 
on  account  of  the  frequent  experience  of  not  being  able 
to  make  himself  understood,  at  least  completely.  More- 
over, he  felt  that  he  was  not  a  "  learned  man,"  inasmuch 
as  he  lacked  much  positive  knowledge  in  this  depart- 
ment of  science.  And  very  naturally  every  one  of  these 
men  desired  a  special  reference  to  the  relations  of  the 
method  with  his  own  particular  department  of  science. 
The  result  was,  that  some  left  Froebel  ill  satisfied,  and 
admitted  that  he  was  a  "  good  man,"  who  was  working 
very  usefully  for  the  improvement  of  children's  games, 
and  for  adapting  them  to  the  preparation  for  school, — 
but  nothing  more !  Others,  philosophically  educated 
men,  had  some  fixed  philosophical  system  by  which  to 
level  their  judgment,  and  if  Froebel's  theories  would  not 
adapt  themselves  to  these  they  were  rejected. 

How  often  did  Froebel's  brow  contract  into  painful 
folds,  when  in  such  discussions  he  could  not  extort  any 
understanding,  and  knew  that  on  the  other  hand  he  pos- 
sessed little  authority. 

The  obstacle  to  arriving  at  a  mutual  understanding 
was,  in  most  cases,  that  he  took  his  point  of  departure 
from  the  things  of  the  concrete  world,  i.  e.  from  the 
thoughts  made  objective,  and  from  the  laws  of  the  Divine 
mind  expressed  therein,  while  his  opponents  would  admit 
no  other  starting-point  than  their  own  Ego  or  their  sub- 
jective inner  experience. 


84  REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL. 

And  this  could  not  in  truth  be  otherwise,  since  the 
struggle  after  new  knowledge  for  the  solution  of  the  old 
question  —  the  connection  of  the  material  world,  or  un- 
conscious nature,  with  the  intellectual  world,  or  the  con- 
scious mind  of  man  —  was  just  opening  new  paths  in 
which  new  problems  presented  themselves,  which  would 
require  centuries  for  their  complete  solution,  so  far  as 
this  is  vouchsafed  at  all  to  the  human  mind  on  earth. 

Froebel's  idea,  the  "  connection  of  contrasts  "  in  the 
course  of  the  process  of  development,  —  since  in  the 
world  of  phenomena  no  absolute  contrasts,  but  only  rela- 
tive ones  exist,  and  the  absolute  only  exists  as  a  principle, 
—  was  almost  always  misunderstood,  especially  by  those 
minds  who  considered  the  dualistic  theory  of  the  world 
as  the  only  correct  one.  These  generally  rejected  the 
Froebelian  theory  before  they  had  examined  its  point  of 
departure  closely.  They  would  easily  have  learnt  that 
Froebel  did  not  deny  the  truth  of  dualism,  but  recog- 
nized it  as  a  part  only  and  not  as  the  whole  truth,  which 
he  found  rather  in  the  repeated  resolution  of  it,  and  in 
the  final  harmony  or  connection  of  contrasts,  i.  e.  in  the 
principle,  and  not  at  all  in  the  finite  things  and  relations 
and  their  development. 

If  by  some  of  these  denying  spirits,  penetrated  with 
the  praxis  of  Froebel's  method,  Froebel's  thoughts  could 
be  better  understood,  their  deep  concurrence  with  the 
ideas  of  the  time  would  be  recognized,  and  they  would 
be  welcomed  as  one  of  the  means  of  preparing  minds  for 
the  higher  theories  of  the  world  which  are  forming.  But, 
indeed,  what  a  request,  to  ask  highly  educated  men  to 
plunge  into  children's  plays  ! 

And  if  these  doubters  were  referred  to  Froebel's  writ- 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  85 

ings,  —  these  fragments  and  aphorisms  of  philosophy  and 
pedagogics,  as  they  undoubtedly  are,  —  then  it  was  to 
these  one-sidedly  developed  minds  very  bad  indeed.  Then 
it  was  said,  "There  is  nothing  here  of  system!"  "These 
theories  of  unity  are  untenable  from  the  standpoint  of 
philosophical  science."  " The  style  is  intolerable."  "The 
principles  are  Pestalozzi's."  "  The  method  is  not  carried 
out  to  the  higher  ages,  up  to  the  school."  "  There  are 
some  good  and  even  striking  things  there,  but  confused, 
and  on  the  whole  unintelligible,"  etc. 

Only  a  few  penetrated  into  it  to  find  its  deep  meaning, 
in  spite  of  the  faulty  manner  of  expression,  the  lack  of 
system,  and  the  merely  aphoristical  views  of  a  mind  living 
entirely  under  the  power  of  intuition.  These  few  were 
sometimes  seized  hold  of  by  the  truth  lying  at  the  foun- 
dation of  them,  so  that  they  must  follow  them  whether 
they  would  or  not.  But  for  the  great  majority  the  interest 
was  a  transient  one,  that  was  soon  obliterated  by  some 
other  subject  of  thought  lying  closer. 

So  it  has  resulted  that,  notwithstanding  all  recognition 
on  the  part  of  individuals,  even  of  authorities,  the  cause 
in  its  great  whole  and  in  its  deeper  significance  remained 
unknown,  and  its  spread  has  progressed  almost  alone 
through  the  —  mainly  not  understood — praxis  in  the 
kindergarten. 

It  was  not  until  the  following  day  that  I  spoke  with 
Hiecke  after  his  first  interview  with  Froebel,  since  I  had 
been  prevented  from  accompanying  him  to  Marienthal. 
As  I  feared,  the  two  men,  standing  on  entirely  different 
grounds,  had  only  partially  understood  each  other.  Hiecke 
was  a  little  disappointed,  although,  like  every  one  who 


86  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

had  a  heart,  he  was  impressed  by  Froebel's  devotion  and 
joyful  sacrifice  to  the  cause  of  human  welfare. 

"  He  has  Pestalozzi's  love,  and  a  great  power  of  per- 
suasion," he  said.  He  admitted  also  the  usefulness  of 
a  preparation  conformable  to  nature  for  children  before 
and  for  the  school,  but  the  great  significance  of  a  me- 
thodical educational  influence  during  the  earliest  instruc- 
tive life  of  the  child,  before  the  awakening  of  personal 
consciousness,  was  not  obvious  to  him.  This  appeared 
to  him  almost  fantastical.  The  school  was  for  him  the 
chief  factor  in  education,  and  in  it  languages  and  aesthetic 
culture,  which  especially  interested  him,  could,  in  his 
view,  only  be  gained  by  instruction. 

"  But  there  is  other  instruction  than  that  given  by 
words"  I  replied  ;  " practice,  action,  is  a  self-instruction 
which  the  school  cannot  give  sufficiently.  All  musical 
theory  does  not  teach  one  how  to  play  an  instrument 
without  practical  exercise  at  the  same  time.  And  all 
morality  learned  with  words  and  out  of  books  does  not 
lead  to  a  moral  life,  to  moral  power  of  action.  Knowl- 
edge and  good-will  are  not  sufficient  to  enable  one  to 
rescue  a  fellow-creature  who  has  fallen  into  the  water; 
one  must  have  learned  to  swim.  Here  are  the  defects 
of  the  church  and  of  the  school ! " 

Hiecke  said,  "  I  do  not  deny  that  something  must  be 
done  in  this  direction,  and  I  think  that  Froebel  has  come 
just  at  the  right  time  to  help  in  the  work  begun,  of  sim- 
plifying the  work  of  teachers  and  scholars  in  the  school, 
and  of  cutting  down  the  time  for  it,  in  a  certain  degree, 
in  order  to  use  it  for  bodily  exercises  and  for  gaining 
practical  power.  This  is  especially  true  of  the  people's 
schools.  Froebel's  school-gardens  can  be  of  great  use,  — 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  87 

if  Froebel  will  only  create  for  us  the  necessary  situation 
for  them  in  the  great  cities,"  he  added,  laughing. 

"  The  cause  will  be  wrecked  first  on  this  want.  Such 
thorough-going  changes  of  the  whole  school-organism 
involve  great  difficulties,  which  it  will  require  the  work  of 
long  years  to  overcome.  Moreover,  the  classical  schools 
and  the  gymnasia  could  take  but  a  small  share  in  a  re- 
form of  that  kind." 

I  answered  :  "  As  to  the  question  about  land,  some 
fields  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  cities  could  easily  be 
obtained  for  cultivation  by  the  school-youth.  By  this 
means  labor  would  be  saved  on  the  one  side,  while  on 
the  other  the  powers  of  the  youth  would  be  increased, 
and  public  economy  would  make  a  real  gain." 

At  that  time  —  twenty-five  years  ago  —  it  seemed 
almost  Utopian  to  wish  to  carry  the  kindergarten  on 
in  such  a  manner  to  school-gardens,  and  quite  so  to 
hope  to  bring  about  workshops,  art  studios,  playgrounds, 
great  excursions,  etc.,  for  the  school-youth.* 

T,o-day  we  see  the  Austrian  government  assisting  in 
every  way  the  labors  of  Professor  Dr.  E.  Schwab,  in 
Vienna,  in  founding  school-gardens ;  and  since  1872  an 
order  of  the  Minister  of  Instruction  requires  the  school- 
inspectors  to  join  a  kindergarten  with  every  school  where 
it  is  possible  to  do  so,  makes  the  knowledge  of  Froebel's 
method  obligatory  upon  elementary  teachers,  and  pre- 
scribes it  as  a  branch  of  the  teaching  at  the  seminaries. 

Within  the  last  two  years  a  great  number  of  school- 
gardens  have  been  established,  in  Austrian  Silesia,  in 

*  See  further  on  this  subject,  "  Education  by  Work,"  by  B.  von  Maren- 
holtz-Biilow. 

* 


88  'REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

Lower  Austria,  in  Moravia,  in  Tyrol,  etc.  In  St.  Poel- 
ten  and  Neustadt,  near  Vienna,  large  school-gardens 
have  been  made,  likewise  in  Briinn,  Laibach,  Krems,  etc., 
and  also  in  many  villages,  under  the  initiative  of  the 
community.  The  "  Agricultural  Society,"  the  "  Trade- 
Union,"  and  other  associations  in  Vienna  have  aided  the 
work  successfully  begun  by  Dr.  Schwab,  who  has  worked 
unceasingly  and  with  the  greatest  energy.  The  Minister 
of  Agriculture,  also,  has  given  his  assistance  by  the  assign- 
ment of  land,  and  invites  proposals  for  the  management 
of  the  matter,  from  all  parts  of  the  country,  as  far  as 
Bukowina.  Schwab's  efforts  for  the  foundation  of  school- 
workshops,  in  which  the  first  experiments  have  been 
made,  meet  with  a  like  sympathy. 

To  this  is  to  be  added  the  activity  of  the  Dekans,  Dr. 
Hoerfarter,  in  Kufstein,  in  Tyrol,  who,  besides  a  kinder- 
garten and  a  training  institution  for  kindergartners,  has 
founded  a  school-garden  for  the  school-children  of  the 
'place,  and  labors  for  the  cause  in  every  way  with  devo- 
tion worthy  of  great  praise. 

Such  successful  practical  beginnings  in  one  country 
cannot  but  have  speedy  results  in  other  lands,  of  which 
I  hope  one  of  the  first  will  be  Germany,  where  single  be- 
ginnings on  the  part  of  private  individuals  have  already 
been  made. 

An  educational  reform  of  this  sort  is  so  pressingly 
demanded  by  the  present  condition  of  culture,  entirely 
apart  from  its  being  a  consequence  of  Froebel's  educa- 
tional method,  that  its  realization  cannot  be  very  far 
distant. 

At  the  time  of  which  I  am  speaking  (1851)  but  a  few 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  89 

believing  ears  were  found  in  our  Liebenstein  circle  for 
Froebel's  cause,  and  the  school-men  at  that  period  sel- 
dom went  into  anything  that  was  not  immediately  practi- 
cal. Therefore  the  views  of  Hiecke  were  the  more 
encouraging. 

Women  were  far  more  urgent  than  men  for  the  reform, 
perhaps  because  they  did  not  so  well  understand  the 
difficulties  that  lay  in  the  way  of  it.  If  the  Duchess  of 
Weimar  had  not  died  so  soon,  a  first  attempt  might  pos- 
sibly have  been  made  with  her  assistance,  since  she  not 
only  felt  a  warm  interest  in  Froebel's  cause,  but  also 
cherished  a  lively  wish  to  see  it  carried  into  execution. 

On  the  occasion  of  a  visit  to  her  when  the  Countess 
of  Hessen-Phillipsstahl  was  present,  and  the  conversa- 
tion turned  upon  the  kindergarten  and  the  furthering  of 
it,  the  interest  of  the  Countess  was  so  warmly  excited 
that  she  determined  to  bring  Froebel's  method  into  the 
educational  work  of  her  own  family. 

A  little  grandson  of  hers,  son  of  the  reigning  Count, 
four  years  old,  sickly  and  almost  weak-minded,  was  so 
backward  in  his  development  that  he  did  not  even  incline 
to  the  usual  play  of  children,  and  was  almost  always  in 
an  apathetic  and  sluggish  condition  of  intellect.  On  the 
next  day  after  our  conversation  the  Countess  visited 
Froebel,  and  after  nearer  acquaintance  with  the  practical 
occupations  of  the  kindergarten,  and  learning  the  princi- 
ple on  which  they  were  founded,  she  made  an  agreement 
with  him  that  one  of  the  pupils  then  taking  the  lessons 
should,  at  the  end  of  her  course,  come  to  Phillipsstahl 
as  the  educator  of  the  little  prince.* 

*  Fraulein  Marie  Kramer  undertook  this  with  much  zeal,  so  that  the  par- 
ents, as  well  as  his  grandmother,  acknowledged  the  advantage  of  the  method 
very  warmly. 


90  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

Froebel  was  exceedingly  pleased  with  the  judgment  of 
the  Princess,  and  hoped  from  it  a  wider  recognition  of 
his  method  in  the  higher  circles  of  society. 

On  the  day  when  Hiecke  went  with  me  to  Marienthal, 
in  the  afternoon,  after  long  discussions  on  the  subject, 
Froebel's  very  anxiety,  or  his  fatigue,  rendered  him  less 
capable  than  usual  of  clear  expression.  His  explana- 
tions, however,  of  the  practical  bearings  of  the  method 
were  recognized  by  Hiecke  entirely,  though  it  lay  far 
away  from  his  own  pedagogic  domain.  But  as  soon  as 
the  fundamental  principle  cairje  into  view,  the  mutual 
understanding  was  in  a  measure  destroyed,  and  Hiecke 
was  not  quite  satisfied  with  what  Froebel  said,  and  at  the 
moment  Froebel  was  unable  to  explain  it  well. 

On  our  way  back  to  Liebenstein,  Hiecke  said  that  the 
philosophic  foundation  of  the  thing  was  unsatisfactory  to 
him ;  he  must  especially  disagree  on  one  point,  namely, 
the  supposition  Froebel  seemed  to  go  upon,  that  children 
had  by  nature  exclusively  good  dispositions. 

I  denied  that  decidedly,  but  I  had  to  admit  that  such 
a  misinterpretation  was  natural  from  the  statements  that 
Froebel  had  made.  I  undertook  to  give  him  Froebel's 
theory  myself,  somewhat  in  the  following  form  :  — 

"  The  dispositions  of  the  human  being  are  destined  by 
God's  will  to  develop  themselves  on  all  sides  into  the 
good  and  the  perfect,  —  the  image  of  God.  Therefore 
these  dispositions  cannot  in  the  end  be  sinful  or  evil, 
so  far  as  they  are  given  by  God  in  order  to  realize  this 
destiny. 

"  Froebel  says,  in  his  '  Education  of  Man,'  '  Qualities 
evil  in  themselves  cannot  be  found  in  man  unless  we 
understand  the  finite,  bodily,  and  transient  as  evil  in 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  -  9! 

their  nature  and  consequences ;  these  have  their  neces- 
sary basis  in  the  destination  of  man  to  conscious  reason 
and  freedom.  Man  must  be  able  to  err,  in  order  to 
become  good,  honest,  and  virtuous.  Whoever  would 
enact  the  divine  and  eternal  with  self-determination  and 
freedom  must  be  permitted  to  do  finite  and  earthly  things. 
Since  God  has  willed  to  make  himself  known  in  the 
finite,  this  must  be  done  in  the  finite.  Whoever  calls 
whatever  is  temporal,  individual,  and  bodily  evil  in  itself, 
despises  nature  itself,  creation,  that  which  is ;  in  short,  he 
blasphemes  God  in  a  special  sense.' " 

I  added,  "  The  freedom  of  the  will,  necessarily  given 
to  man  in  order  that  he  shall  develop  himself  as  a  rea- 
sonable being,  having  prevented  the  normal  development 
of  his  powers  by  capriciousness  and  error,  he  has  by 
these  been  led  into  unlawful  paths  contrary  to  the  laws 
of  God,  and  brought  on  the  fall of "man" 

How  far  Froebel  considered  this  fact  in  education  can 
be  seen  from  an  example  in  his  "  Mother  and  Cos 
Songs,"  where  he  refers  to  the  fall  of  the  child  as  an 
unavoidable  fact,  and  points  to  its  application  as  a  whole- 
some experience. 

Froebel  denies  by  no  means  that  the  deviation  from 
the  lawful  and  normal  way  of  development  must  have 
changed  and  affected  the  nature  of  human  dispositions, 
and  still  must  continue  to  do  so.  One  sees  these  con- 
sequences, even  in  the  animal  and  plant  world,  where 
deficiency  of  care  and  culture,  even  in  the  higher  races 
of  the  domestic  animals,  for  instance  in  the  horse,  causes 
deteriorated  posterity,  or  when  poorly  cultivated  plants 
bear  imperfect  seeds,  leading  to  the  degradation  of  the 
species.  But,  on  the  contrary,  we  also  see  that  proper 


92  REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL. 

care  and  culture  improve  and  ennoble  species  of  the  ani- 
mal and  vegetable  world,  and  overcome  the  deterioration 
which  has  taken  place. 

Froebel  desires  that  the  educator  should  treat  the  child 
as  good  and  pure  until  an  instance  of  the  opposite  nature 
appears,  since  no  one  can  know  when  the  moment  of  the 
first  failing  or  individual  fall  takes  place  in  the  child  who 
has  inherited  different  qualities  from  parents  and  ances- 
tors, and  in  different  combinations,  out  of  which  arise 
this  or  that  form  of  error  which  we  call  sinful.  No  less 
are  the  inborn  dispositions  modified  and  shaped  by  the 
influences  surrounding  the  child  which  act  favorably  or 
unfavorably  upon  its  nurture  and  education.  The  dispo- 
sitions themselves,  before  they  are  developed  in  either 
direction,  are  neither  good  nor  bad,  —  they  are  the  seeds 
out  of  which,  according  to  circumstances,  good  or  evil 
may  proceed.  There  are  dispositions  destined  by  God 
for  goodness  that,  in  a  measure,  are  perverted  to  evil  by 
the  parents  and  ancestors  of  all  children,  and  which  are 
inherited  by  posterity  with  a  thousand  modifications,  as 
are  the  tendencies  to  bodily  weakness  and  malady.  In- 
herited weaknesses  are  of  mental  as  well  as  of  bodily 
nature,  but  together  with  these  weaknesses  and  faults  are 
also  found  good  and  healthy  qualities ;  with  inherited 
tendency  to  sin  is  also  found  in  the  human  being  in- 
herited tendency  to  virtue. 

But  if  criminal  families  show  an  inheritance  of  misused 
powers  and  dispositions,  it  should  not  be  inferred  that 
every  criminal's  child  must  certainly  walk  in  the  footsteps 
of  his  parent.  Let  him  be  brought  into  a  good  moral 
atmosphere  ;  give  him  a  good  education,  and  he  will  per- 
haps become  a  noble  and  useful  man.  Let  one  only  look 


REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL.  93 

into  the  eyes  of  children  of  even  the  worst  families,  and 
one  will  not  doubt  the  ever-regenerating  power  of  the 
human  being.  If  it  were  not  so,  the  Christian  idea  of 
redemption  would  have  no  significance. 

The  progressive  culture  acknowledged  by  all  genera- 
tions, and  therefore  by  every  individual  in  each  genera- 
tion, must  by  degrees  lead  to  the  victory  over  evil  in  man, 
notwithstanding  the  thousand  backward  steps  of  individ- 
uals, and  even  of  individual  nations  ;  and  the  dispositions 
that  have  been  injured  by  sin  must  be  ennobled  and  re- 
instated in  their  original  purity.  To  what  degree  this  is 
possible  upon  earth,  what  special  historical  acts  and  reve- 
lations of  Divine  Providence  have  been  at  work  for  it 
hitherto  and  will  work  for  it  in  the  future,  in  order  that 
the  final  practical  redemption  from  evil,  determined  by 
God,  and  the  possible  perfection  of  the  human  being  on 
earth  shall  -be  reached,  is  another  question,  whose  solu- 
tion is  not  denied  or  doubted  in  the  Christian  point  of 
view.  The  superficial  views  of  our  time,  which  deny 
every  deep  idea,  Froebel  did  not  share  in  any  degree. 
If  any  one  has  ever  seized  the  innermost  kernel  of  the 
Christian  idea,  and  recognized  its  eternal  truth,  it  was 
he.  In  one  of  his  treatises  he  says :  "  The  relation  of 
man  to  God  has  been  determined  conclusively  and  ex- 
haustively, for  all  time,  by  the  Christian  religion." 

Because  this  eternal  truth  of  the  Christian  religion  is 
yet  really  known  to  but  very  few ;  because  it  has  been 
hidden  by  the  innumerable  misconceptions  of  centuries ; 
and  because  God  wills  that  the  contents  of  our  faith 
shall  be  brought  to  light,  new  means  of  help  must  come 
into  the  world  for  that  end.  A  better  education,  really 
corresponding  to  the  nature  of  the  human  being,  belongs 


94  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

undeniably  to  these  means  of  help,  and  particularly  if — 
as  in  the  case  of  Froebel  —  the  law  of  the  development 
of  the  human  being  is  recognized  and  applied.  Just 
because  Froebel  recognizes  the  danger  of  departure 
from  the  right  way,  and  the  possibility  of  the  perversion 
of  human  qualities  in  their  first  budding,  he  considered 
the  education  of  the  earliest  childhood  the  most  impor- 
tant. If  the  child  had  come  into  the  world  with  only 
perfectly  good  and  pure  disposition,  the  early  educa- 
tional influence  would  not  have  been  necessary ;  edu- 
cation would  have  been  superfluous,  because  human 
dispositions  and  powers  would  then  have  developed 
themselves  aright  spontaneously,  according  to  their 
nature. 

But  the  good  disposition  of  the  child  will  be  in  dan- 
ger, according  to  Froebel,  of  being  turned  contrary  to 
good  by  nothing  more  easily  than  by  supposing  evil  and 
sin  to  exist  where  it  has  not  appeared ;  for  example,  to 
suppose  untruth  where  this  has  been  far  from  the  child's 
soul.  Thereby  a  child  is  robbed  of  its  innocence,  as  it 
were,  before  it  is  time,  before  the  opposite  has  mani- 
fested itself  definitely.  Froebel  requires  the  educator  to 
take  for  granted  the  good  and  the  pure  in  the  child, 
to  proceed  tentatively,  and  not  to  look  upon  the  child  as 
a  little  devil.  Without  in  any  way  denying  the  signifi- 
cance and  importance  of  theological  and  philosophical 
studies  and  investigations  for  deeper  knowledge  of  the 
truth,  it  must  be  granted  that  in  reference  to  the  imme- 
diate practical  education  of  children  and  the  masses 
little  has  been  gained  hitherto.  The  truth  expressed  in 
words  alone  is  not  enough  to  form  the  moral  man. 
Moral  practices  are  needed  to  insure  subsequent  free 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  95 

moral  action.  *  These  moral  practices  are  insufficiently 
brought  into  action  in  the  present  mode  of  education. 
Froebel  wishes  to  introduce  them,  and  to  put  doing  and 
creating  in  the  place  of  word  instruction. 

The  striving  of  our  time  to  find  reason  ruling  even  in 
the  unconscious  being,  and  to  discover  and  establish  the 
relations  of  the  human  being  to  nature  and  to  the  organ- 
isms subordinated  to  him,  exhibits  certainly  a  point  of 
development  willed  by  God,  and  will  serve  to  compen- 
sate humanity  for  the  long-continued  estrangement  of 
man  from  nature. 

In  so  far  as  Froebel  took  his  starting-point  in  the 
knowledge  of  real  things  (the  works  of  God),  he  also 
goes  in  the  same  direction,  and  he  does  so  in  the  convic- 
tion that  truth  in  the  word,  and  through  the  word  (doc- 
trine), can  only  be  set  in  clearer  light,  and  be  more 
deeply  understood  thereby,  so  far  as  one  revelation  con- 
firms the  other,  which  they  must  do,  since  they  have 
their  common  origin  in  God.  The  deeper  knowledge 
of  human  beings  as  "  children  of  nature "  (as  Froe- 
bel says)  is  the  best  means  by  which  to  discover  and 
combat  budding  evil,  since  that  evil  is  in  the  natural  and 
not  in  the  spiritual  being  of  man. 

Froebel  has  certainly  not  established  any  philosophical 
system,  at  least  not  in  words,  but  a  deep  philosophic 
and  religious  view  of  the  world  lies  at  the  foundation  of 
his  "Education  of  Man,"  and 'is  embodied,  in  a  meas- 
ure, in  his  means  of  education,  which  carry  back  the 
ideas  of  the  human  mind  to  their  origin  in  the  material 
world  (God's  world),  and  furnish  symbols  of  it. 

In  spite  of  his  different  point  of  departure  from  that 
of  the  existing  philosophic  systems,  Froebel  is  not  on 


96  REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL. 

that  account  antagonistic  to  them,  at  least  not  so  far  as 
they  stand  on  the  ground  of  theism.  He  particularly 
agrees,  on  many  sides,  with  the  views  of  the  philosopher 
Krause,  notwithstanding  the  difference  of  their  stand- 
points. 

Through  the  knowledge  of  pure  human  nature,  in  spite 
of  its  actual  degeneracy  and  obscuration;  he  wishes  to 
establish  the  right  goal  for  practical  education  quite  in 
unison  with  the  representation  of  this  pure  human  na- 
ture in  Christianity,  and  wishes  thus  to  preserve  it,  if 
possible,  from  mistakes  in  the  period  of  unconsciousness, 
or  during  the  human  life  of  instinct  in  childhood. 

These  ground  principles  for  a  new  system  of  educa- 
tion, and  the  practical  means  corresponding  to  it,  are 
given  by  Froebel.  Upon  these  grounds  his  intellectual 
descendants  can  build  further  to  meet  the  present  wants ; 
the  life  of  man  does  not  suffice  to  do  more.  This  prob- 
lem will  not  be  fully  solved  till  the  present  intellectual 
struggle  for  a  broader  general  theory  of  the  universe 
shall  have  brought  a  satisfactory  result.  Meanwhile  it  is 
of  the  greatest  importance  that  the  significance  of  Froe- 
bel's  idea  be  sought  in  itself  and  its  further  development, 
and  not  in  the  commentaries  of  his  followers. 

After  exchanging  much  conversation  with  Hiecke,  he 
promised  to  suspend  his  judgment  till  he  had  studied 
Froebel's  "  Education  of  Man,"  and  had  learned  to 
understand  the  cause  better ;  expressing,  meantime,  his 
full  concurrence  with  the  practical  means. 

The  shortness  of  his  Liebenstein  residence  prevented 
his  entering  into  it  any  further  at  the  moment.  The 
acceptance  of  his  new  place  as  director  of  the  gymna- 


REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL.  97 

slum  in  Griefswald  called  him  away,  and  claimed  his 
whole  activity  for  a  long  time.  Besides  that,  the  short- 
ness of  his  life  may  have  prevented  him  from  studying 
into  the  cause  any  further ;  it  would  otherwise  be  incon- 
ceivable that  that  profound  mind,  after  having  received 
so  favorable  an  impression  of  the  cause,  should  not  have 
left  behind  him  a  well-founded  judgment  for  publication, 
although  there  are  not  wanting  examples  of  the  loss  of  a 
lively  and  enthusiastic  sympathy  when  the  occupations 
of  one's  calling,  and  interests  attracting  one  in  opposite 
directions,  prevent  a  comprehensive  survey  of  a  subject. 

A  corresponding  elaboration  of  Froebel's  writings 
would  at  any  rate  have  in  a  great  measure  made  the 
study  of  his  educational  method  easy  to  the  specialists 
who  were  overburdened  with  occupations,  and  been  a 
great  help  towards  its  acceptance  on  their  part. 


CHAPTER     VIII.      : 

EDUCATIONAL  VALUE  OF   FESTIVALS. 

FROEBEL  and  Middendorff  had  already  in  the  pre- 
ceding summer  often  spoken  of  the  plan  of  a  play- 
festival,  which  was  to  be  celebrated  at  some  beautiful 
place  in  the  neighborhood,  with  the  co-operation  of  the 
children  and  teachers  of  the  neighboring  districts.  This 
plan  had  frequently  been  discussed  between  us,  in  con- 
nection with  Froebel's  ideas  of  the  educational  use  of 
festivals  for  childhood  and  youth,  and  also  for  the  mass 
of  the  people. 


98  REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL. 

The  misuse  of  political  liberty,  which  in  our  day  is 
becoming  more  and  more  marked  and  extreme,  is  occa- 
sioned in  part,  in  Froebel's  opinion,  by  the  rareness  of 
the  opportunity  which  youth  and  children  find  to  act 
freely  in  a  lawful  and  orderly  sociableness,  between  the 
extremes  of  the  imposed  restraint  of  schools  and  the 
irresponsible  freedom  outside  of -them.  The  present  de- 
gree of  liberty  granted  to  all  classes  requires  a  thorough 
education  for  liberty  that  does  not  yet  exist  in  a  corre- 
sponding degree.  This  education  ought  to  begin  before 
the  school  years  begin,  in  a  wider  social  intercourse  of 
children,  in  which  each  under  an  established  order  may 
act  freely,  as  in  the  kindergarten. 

The  narrow  circle  of  the  family  cannot  fulfil  all  the 
conditions  for  this  end,  because  children  surrounded  by 
love  at  home  rarely  find  occasion  to  learn  to  check  and 
deny  themselves  for  the  sake  of  others.  In  the  social 
life  of  the  school,  on  the  other  hand,  passive  obedience 
is  requisite  for  giving  to  all  an  adequate  opportunity  for 
freedom  of  action.  Abuse  of  freedom  granted  rarely 
occurs  under  the  regulated  activity  of  schools  for  youth, 
or  in  the  hard  work  of  adults.  Experience  sufficiently 
shows  that  excesses  generally  occur  in  the  hours  of 
recreation.  It  is  coarse  and  rough  enjoyments  which 
lead  to  this  danger.  Youth  must  be  educated  to  nobler 
pleasures  and  enjoyments,  if  freer  institutions  are  not  to 
be  misused.  Those  who  are  shut  out  from  the  pleasures 
derived  from  nature  and  the  arts  cannot  easily  be  re- 
'  strained  from  excessive  rudeness. 

General  morality,  according  to  Froebel,  depends  in 
great  measure  on  having  this  ideal  side  of  the  human 
being  awakened  and  gratified  from  the  very  beginning  of 


REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL.  99 

life,  in  order  to  afford  a  counterpoise  to  sensual  desires, 
and  to  prevent  as  far  as  possible  the  awakening  of  the 
lower  appetites.  The  development  of  the  sense  of 
beauty,  while  the  reflective  powers  are  still  slumbering  in 
the  child's  soul,  offers  the  best  means  for  this.  There- 
fore the  eyes  of  the  child  are  to  be  opened  in  its  earliest 
years  to  forms,  colors,  etc.,  and  the  ear  to  music,  and 
the  weak,  childish  powers  are  to  be  prepared  and  used 
in  the  formation  of  beautiful  objects. 

Froebel  looks  upon  this  formation  of  beautiful  objects 
as  the  best  means  of  making  the  soul  susceptible  to  the 
ideal  on  every  side,  and  the  cultivation  of  the  creative 
powers  he  considers  one  of  the  most  important  means 
for  overcoming  coarseness  and  immorality. 

The  necessity  of  elevating  one's  self  above  every-day 
difficulties  and  of  placing  one's  self  in  ideal  circum- 
stances, even  if  only  by  dreaming,  or  at  times  giving 
one's  self  up  unconstrainedly  to  childlike,  innocent  amuse- 
ment, is  gratified  by  festivals,  which  at  the  same  time 
serve  to  give  expression  to  special  sentiments,  such  as 
gratitude,  admiration  of  great  and  good  deeds,  com- 
memorations of  the  services  of  distinguished  patriots 
and  public  benefactors,  great  minds  and  inventors,  etc. 

Play,  or  rather  art  in  the  garment  of  play,  constitutes 
the  chief  ingredient  of  such  festivities,  if  they  are  to  rise 
above  a  merely  sensuous  enjoyment.  In  order  to  en- 
noble and  idealize  children's  festivals,  the  children's 
bodies  and  minds  must  first  be  prepared  for  enjoy- 
ment. 

It  is  a  great  educational  error  (which  Froebel  wishes 
to  combat)  to  deprive  childhood  and  youth  of  its  legiti- 
mate joys,  for  nature  has  planted  the  need  and  craving 


IOO  REMINISCENCES  OF   FROEBEL. 

for  them  in  their  hearts.  As  bodily  development  is 
interrupted  and  even  injured  when  the  lawful  wants  of 
nature  are  not  satisfied,  the  soul  and  its  natural  develop- 
ment are  cramped  if  the  craving  for  joy  is  not  met. 

The  youth  who  grow  up  in  too  great  restraint  and  pri- 
vation show  the  justice  of  this  view  by  their  excessive 
pleasure-seeking  as  soon  as  freedom  and  opportunity  are 
given  to  them.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  rare  that  youth 
who  have  grown  up  in  innocent,  happy  .childhood  rush 
into  any  excess  of  pleasures. 

Natural  gratification,  when  permitted,  prevents  ex- 
cesses, while  one  extreme  always  calls  forth  the  opposite. 
Moderation  in  everything,  indeed,  is  the  first  educational 
rule,  and  a  right  limitation  of  the  pleasures  of  youth 
should  not  be  wanting. 

Froebel  found  the  right  way  when  he  made  the  correct 
estimate  of  those  childish  joys  which  ennoble  the  mind, 
satisfy  the  desire  for  the  beautiful  and  the  ideal,  and 
above  all  things  prevent  every  merely  idle  pleasure  by 
giving  that  activity  to  the  powers  which  precludes  de- 
structive desires. 

Enjoyment,  as  a  means  of  unity  for  men,  resembles 
in  its  highest  and  finest  expression  true  religion,  which 
binds  together  in  the  worship  of  God  all  ages,  all  the 
different  social  ranks,  and  all  the  different  grades  of 
culture.  Enjoyment  delivers  from  all  dissension,  all 
enmity,  and  all  separation  during  the  season  of  the 
enjoyment. 

In  the  drawing  of  men's  souls  together  sentiment  is 
one  and  the  same  for  one  and  the  same  end.  Froebel 
saw  the  beginning  of  the  final  and  highest  destiny  of 
mankind  upon  earth,  which  he  designated  by  the  expres- 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          IOI 

sion  "  unity  of  life,"  and  which  with  him  had  a  manifold 
significance,  according  to  its  various  relations  and  the 
various  steps  of  its  realization. 

In  reference  to  individuals,  this  "unity  of  life"  or  har- 
mony brings  about  as  a  last  consequence  that  resolution 
of  discords  between  the  sensual  and  spiritual  nature  which 
in  reality  is  only  thinkable  for  moments.  Taken  abso- 
lutely, it  would  be  that  lifting  out  of  sin  that  is  the  last 
and  highest  destiny  of  man,  and  the  final  goal  of  all  edu- 
cation as  of  all  religion. 

In  nature,  or  the  material  world,  Froebel  saw  an  image 
of  this  "  unity  of  life  "  in  every  organism,  so  far  as  its 
conditions  require  that  all  parts  serve  the  end  of  the 
whole  as  a  connected  unity.  The  circle,  with  its  radii 
running  from  the  centre  to  the  circumference,  was  to  him 
a  symbol  of  this  idea ;  for  a  circle  is  the  representation 
of  the  general  law,  "  the  connection  of  opposites,"  since 
the  periphery  and  centre  stand  in  contrast  to  each  other, 
and  are  connected  by  the  radii ;  this  law  was  with  him 
the  indispensable  condition  of  all  harmony,  and  therefore 
of  all  "  unity  of  life." 

The  organic  life  in  nature,  as  the  first  beginning  of  the 
harmony  which  rules  in  the  universe,  and  imitating  this 
last  as  microcosm  (world  in  miniature),  offers  the  first 
rudiments  of  "  unity  of  life "  in  human  society,  whose 
organization  has  to  represent  that  spiritually  which  na- 
ture presents  materially. 

The  recognition  of  the  analogy  between  spirit  and 
phenomena,  and  the  deeper  understanding  of  the  above- 
mentioned  law,  which  governs  equally  in  both,  must  lead 
to  the  view  that  national  organization  and  civic  arrange- 
ments also  require  for  the  stability  of  the  whole  the  con- 


IO2          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

currence  of  the  parts,  and  this  view  impels  individuals  to 
the  conscientious  and  voluntary  fulfilment  of  their  civic 
duties  and  the  maintenance  of  national  order,  and  thus 
the  conditions  would  be  fulfilled  for  reaching  national 
unity. 

Therefore  nationalities  must  recognize  themselves  also 
as  individual  organisms  in  the  great  whole  of  humanity, 
which  create  "  unity  of  life  "  for  themselves  by  the  con- 
scious community  of  their  parts,  and  lead  the  way  through 
their  association  ^with  each  other  to  the  condition  of  the 
highest  community,  the  unity  of  all  nations  upon  the  earth. 

Through  the  fulfilment  of  these  conditions,  humanity  is 
made  into  a  conscious  or  spiritual  whole,  and  thereby  is 
the  "  unity  of  life "  established  fully  and  completely  in 
the  world.  This  theory  of  Froebel's  agrees  in  its  general 
features,  in  many  respects,  with  those  of  some  other  phi- 
losophers, especially  with  Krause's.  Not  less  is  it  in 
unison  with  the  Christian  theory  and  its  idea  of  redemp- 
tion, taken  in  its  deepest  meaning. 

To  the  realism  of  our  time  this  would  be  nothing  more 
than  a  useless  hypothesis,  if  it  did  not  lead  in  its  conse- 
quences to  a  practical  educational  result.  The  immediate 
practical  application  which  Froebel  makes  possible  stands 
as  it  were  in  contrast,  if  not  in  opposition,  to  those  philo- 
sophical systems,  and  is  of  the  greatest  importance. 

Our  time  will  hear  nothing  of  mere  speculations  which 
have  no  practical  results  for  the  bettering  of  human  so- 
ciety, as  has  been  the  case  for  centuries.  Science,  to-day, 
moves  in  the  service  of  practical  life,  without,  however,  on 
that  account  giving  up  its  own  aim.  Froebel's  method 
of  education  is  the  practical  resulf  of  a  philosophical 
theory  by  which,  for  the  first  time,  a  complete  embodi- 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          103 

ment  of  abstract  ideas,  and  their  immediate  realization 
in  deeds,  is  brought  forth ;  and  thus  this  practical  phi- 
losophy of  Froebel's  is  separated  completely  and  fully 
from  all  other  philosophical  systems. 

In  the  association  movements  which  prevail  at  present 
in  all  classes,  Froebel  saw  a  sign  of  the  idea  of  that  unity 
which  governs  the  times,  and  whose  ultimate  goal  he 
designates  as  the  "unity  of  life."  This  unity,  at  first 
making  itself  felt  for  outward  and  material  aims,  was  to 
him  the  precursor  of  the  coming  spiritual  unity  which 
hovered  before  him  as  his  highest  ideal,  and  whose  final 
aim  is  a  universal  sense  of  religion,  or  divine  unity. 

For-  the  realization  of  the  pure  humanity  in  it,  the  full 
and  complete  development  of  every  individuality  is  needed. 
The  more  independently  human  nature  shows  itself  as 
peculiarity  in  individuals,  the  more  unfettered  and  freely 
they  can  act,  physically  and  intellectually,  the  more 
capable  they  become  of  union  into  a  whole  and  of  vol- 
untary self-renunciation  to  its  law.  The  larger  wholes 
and  communities  can  in  their  turn  only  have  vitality  when 
they  proceed  from  the  narrowest  circle,  the  bosom  of  the 
family,  which  is  the  earliest  community  of  life.  Only  the 
most  moral  and  the  most  holy  family  life  can  lead  the 
wider  circles  of  life  to  conscious  community,  and  bring 
them  near  to  the  highest  ideal  of  a  perfected  humanity. 

But  a  truly  noble  family  life  springs  out  of  the  first  and 
most  original  union  of  two  mortals,  —  marriage.  Accord- 
ing to  Froebel,  the  counterparts,  man  and  woman,  united, 
form  "  the  most  sublime  and  divine  of  all  earthly  objects, 
exalting  man  to  the  likeness  of  God.  It  is  the  funda- 
mental condition,  the  highest  law  for  the  continuance  of 
mankind,  and  therefore  for  the  progressive  existence  of 


104  REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL. 

the  divine  in  humanity."  The  eternal  law  of  connection 
is  love  divine,  all-penetrating  love,  which  streams  through 
the  world  out  of  its  source  in  God  like  a  magnetic  power, 
from  the  most  insignificant  organism  up  to  the  highest 
spirits  that  have  conquered  the  human  and  risen  up  to 
likeness  with  God. 

This  theory  of  love  is  to  serve  as  the  highest  goal 
and  pole-star  of  human  education,  and  must  be  attended 
to  in  the  germ  of  humanity,  the  child,  and  truly  in  his 
very  first  impulses.  The  conquest  of  self-seeking  EGO- 
ISM is  the  most  important  task  of  education,  for  selfish- 
ness isolates  the  individual  from  all  communion  and  kills 
the  life-giving  principle  gf  love.  Therefore  the  first  ob- 
ject of  education  is  to  teach  to  love,  to  break  up  the 
egoism  of  the  individual,  and  to  lead  htm  from  the  first 
stage  of  communion  in  the  family  through  all  the  follow- 
ing stages  of  social  life  to  the  love  of  humanity,  or  to  the 
highest  self-conquest  through  which  man  rises  to  divine 
unity. 

This  is  the  same  thing  that  Christianity  designates  as 
the  "  following  of  Christ,"  and  expresses  in  the  words, 
"  Love  one  another "  ;  "  He  who  loves  not  his  brother 
whom  he  has  seen,  how  can  he  love  God  whom  he  has 
not  seen  ? "  etc. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

CHILD-FESTIVAL  AT  ALTENSTEIN. 

IN  so  far  as  Froebel  holds  fast  to  the  connection  of  the 
greatest  with  the  least,  and  wishes  to  have  it  consid- 
ered in  education,  this  theory  finds  its  application  to 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  105 

child's  play,  which  mirrors  human  nature  in  its  univer- 
sality, and  shows  the  germ  of  human  culture  in  its  condi- 
tion of  unconsciousness.  Therefore  it  is  of  the  greatest 
importance  that  the  understanding  of  the  grown-up  should 
come  to  the  help  of  the  dark  striving  of  the  young  child, 
in  order  to  point  out  to  the  blind  impulses  that  are 
endeavoring  to  express  themselves  the  right  way  of 
reaching  their  aim,  and  also  to  bring  out  the  right  mean- 
ing of  the  symbolism  expressed  in  the  childish  utterance, 
in  order  to  give  direction  to  the  later  conscious  life  in  the 
most  suitable  form. 

The  undeveloped  mind  needs  sensuous  perceptions, 
the  visible  signs,  in  order  to  arrive  at  an  understanding 
of  truth.  As  the  savage  needs  his  fetish,  as  the  people 
of  antiquity  in  a  higher  stage  of  culture  personified  their 
ideas  in  the  form  of  their  gods  and  in  various  allegories, 
as  even  the  Christian  church  cannot  make  itself  under- 
stood without  symbols,  without  the  cross  and  the  host,  so 
the  deepest  need  of  childhood  is  to  make  the  intellectual 
its  own  through  symbols  or  sensuous  forms. 

Therefore  symbolic  representations  are  in  the  first 
place  necessary  for  this,  representations  which  the  chil- 
dren enact  in  their  own  persons,  that  is,  plays,  in  which 
a  company  of  children  are  the  representatives  of  an  idea 
lying  at  the  foundation,  and  whose  meaning  they  bring 
out  in  their  action. 

Froebel's  movement-plays  have  this  aim,  for  they  are 
in  a  certain  sense  dramas,  and  make  the  ideas  of  the 
children  objective  by  means  of  natural  and  human  action. 
The  child's  soul  unconsciously  seeks  for  the  meaning  of 
the  phenomena  of  life  around  it,  but  needs  guidance  to 
be  able  to  find  it  truly ;  and  this  understanding  cannot 


106          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

be  gained  merely  by  words,  but  only  by  actions  con- 
nected with  words,  and  above  all  by  their  own  action. 

The  religious  exhibitions  that  prevailed  in  Greece,  in 
the  form  of  games  like  the  Olympian,  etc.,  satisfied  this 
want  for  that  people,  to  whom  religious  ideas  were  there- 
by brought  into  view.  The  theory  of  the  world  that 
prevailed  at  the  time  was  chiefly  made  intelligible  by 
dramatic  action,  in  the  form  of  games.  In  the  flowering- 
time  of  the  Greeks,  the  harmony  between  the  intellectual 
and  the  sensuous  world  is  expressed  as  with  no  other 
people,  and  is  therefore  the  right  representative  of  the 
ideal  season  of  youth  in  humanity.  The  formation  of  the 
beautiful  was  the  deepest  need  of  that  people  cultivated 
in  all  their  senses,  and  with  all  their  senses  alive,  there- 
fore it  shows  more  than  any  other  the  needs  of  youth 
still  living  in  the  world  of  the  senses.  The  intellectual 
or  higher  contents  of  life,  the  ideas  of  the  true  and  the 
beautiful,  must  be  symbolized  if  they  are  to  be  under- 
stood and  are  to  drive  out  the  vulgarity  of  lower  sensual 
pleasures. 

The  capacity  for  belief,  or  sense  of  truth,  is  killed  out 
in  the  childish  heart  when  the  truth  is  presented  to  it 
only  in  the  form  of  abstract  language,  and  offered  un- 
clothed. More  than  one  aspect  of  history  teaches  this> 
and  yet  people  persist  in  it  and  offer  religion  and  philos- 
ophy to  youth  distinctly  as  doctrine.  Froebel,  on  the 
contrary,  wishes  to  awaken  original  conviction  and  original 
insight  by  religious  acts  and  by  philosophical  knowledge 
of  concrete  things,  and  thereby  to  prepare  for  religious 
doctrine  and  for  philosophic  instruction.  Rousseau 
shows  his  concurrence  with  this  plan  of  procedure  in 
these  words  :  "  Every  truth  given  too  early  by  words 
plants  the  seeds  of  vice  in  the  childish  soul." 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  107 

The  symbolic  plays  of  the  kindergarten  will  cultivate 
youth  to  repeat  the  symbolic  plays  of  the  Greeks.  But 
of  course  they  are  not  to  mirror  the  views  of  the  Grecian 
world,  but  of  our  own  time,  and  thereby  to  prepare  for' 
the  nearest  future.  And  out  of  the  newly  formed  chil- 
dren's festivals  shall  grow  the  newly  formed  people's 
festivals. 

The  play-exercises  which  succeed  those  of  the  kinder- 
garten must  have  their  practical  results,  that  is,  to  teach 
the  government  of  life  in  some  form  and  to  assist  culti- 
vation, intellectually  as  well  as  materially.  The  chief 
domains  of  life  must  be  taken  into  consideration,  so  that 
the  first  acquaintance  with  the  world  may  connect  the 
ideal  side  with  the  living  reality.  Every  child  learns 
more  indirectly  than  directly,  that  is,  rather  by  his  own 
experience  than  by  instruction.  The  organized  play- 
ground, the  school-garden,  the  workshops,  artistic  exer- 
cises of  every  kind,  and  excursions  into  the  country, 
offer  means  for  this  in  connection  with  the  literary 
school.  Most  of  these  opportunities  are  already  in  ex- 
istence. Singly,  none  would  avail.  There  must  be  an 
organizing  idea  in  order  to  connect  them  into  one  whole. 

The  proposed  play-festival  could  not  be  complete  with- 
out Middendorff,  so  he  was  obliged  to  come  to  it.  He 
arrived  at  Marienthal  towards  evening  on  the  zd  of 
August.  Wearied  with  the  journey,  the  last  portion  of 
which  he  had  taken  on  foot,  heated  and  dusty,  but  with 
a  countenance  beaming  with  joy,  he  gayly  entered  Froe- 
bel's  house.  ,  I  had  been  making  with  him  some  prepa- 
rations for  the  festival.  Froebel  had  already  arranged 
everything  he  could  ;  had  had  communications  with  tho 


IO8          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

teachers  of  surrounding  districts,  had  chosen  the  play- 
ground in  the  park  that  environs  the  castle  of  Alten- 
stein,  had  drawn  up  the  plan  of  the  games,  and  had  also 
practised  many  of  the  songs  and  plays  with  the  scholars 
of  his  institution,  and  the  children  of  "the  Liebenstein 
kindergarten. 

It  was  arranged  with  Middendorff  on  that  same  evening 
that  the  next  day  the  two  friends  should  together  deter- 
mine the  details  of  the  festival  on  the  spot.  They  were 
to  send  for  the  teachers  of  the  different  villages  and  their 
troops  of  children,  that  they  might  come  to  their  ap- 
pointed places  and  at  the  time  designated.  I  was  de- 
puted to  invite  the  Duke's  family,  then  at  the  castle  of 
Altenstein,  to  the  festival,  for  which  they  had  already 
given  kindly  permission.  The  invitation  was  not  only 
cordially  accepted,  but  the  Duchess  promised  to  have  the 
children  provided  with  milk  and  rolls. 

On  the  day  before  the  festival,  which  was  arranged  for 
the  4th  of  August,  Froebel  and  Middendorff  scarcely 
had  a  moment  in  which  to  sit  down,  so  eager  were  they 
in  making  their  preparations.  The  joy  of  their  souls  was 
visible  in  their  faces,  like  that  of  mothers  the  day  before 
/  Christmas.  (  To  make  children  happy  blesses  all  human 

hearts/) 
I  /  J 

With  the  penetrating  glance  of  the  weather-wise,  Froe- 
bel contemplated  the  evening  sky,  to  see  whether  the 
next  day  would  be  favorable  for  the  festival.  All  signs 
gave  the  best  promise,  and  this  promise  was  fulfilled,  for 
a  warm  summer  day,  not  too  hot,  shone  in  the  blue 
sky,  on  the  beautiful  festival  of  love,  the  first  child's 
festival  of  this  land. 

On  the  4th  of  August,  at  two  o'clock  in  the  after- 


REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL.  109 

noon,  more  than  three  hundred  children  in  five  different 
columns,  four  abreast,  came  from  the  little  city  of  Sal- 
zung  and  the  surrounding  villages,  Liebenstein,  Mar- 
rienthal,  Schweina,  and  Steinbach.  The  teachers  and 
kindergartners  at  their  side,  decked  with  garlands,  came 
singing  into  the  great  square,  the  Altenstein  plateau, 
which  had  been  chosen  for  the  playground.  At  the 
entrance,  upheld  by  oak-wreaths,  was  placed  a  large 
crown  of  flowers,  in  the  midst  of  which  were  to  be  read 
the  words  of  Schiller  :  — 

"  Deep  meaning  often  lies  in  childish  play." 

The  troops  of  children  with  their  teachers  from  the  vari- 
ous districts,  distinguished  by  different-colored  bows  of 
ribbon,  had  assembled  in  the  village  of  Schweina  that 
lies  below  Altenstein,  in  the  place  designated  for  them. 
Those  coming  from  the  more  distant  Salzung  were  brought 
in  wagons  decked  with  green  festoons,  in  order  to  go  up 
from  here  together  to  the  playground,  where  they  were 
received  by  Froebel  and  Middendorff. 

These  columns,  coming  from  various  directions,  the 
variety  of  ages,  including  adults  and  old  people,  the 
difference  of  rank  and  degrees  of  culture  to  which  the 
children  belonged  (especially  marked  by  the  children  of 
the  guests  at  Liebenstein),  all  this  manifoldness  had  its 
special  significance  for  Froebel.  It  was  necessary,  inv 
order  to  represent  his  idea  of  the  "  unity  of  life."  Play ' 
and  its  joys  were  to  unite  the  different  spheres  of  life, 
the  inhabitants  of  different  regions,  and  various  callings 
and  grades  of  culture,  in  a  common  elevation,  through 
ennobled  enjoyment  in  play,  just  as  public  worship  unites 
all  individuals  in  religious  devotion. 


110  REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL. 

An  order  went  out  immediately  for  arranging  the  chil- 
dren in  eight  different  circles,  which  surrounded  the 
centre  of  the  great  square.  Each  of  the  circles  was  led 
by  its  teacher  or  one  of  the  kindergartners  belonging  to 
Froebel's  school. 

The  spectators  were  arranged  outside  of  the  square,  in 
the  shadow  of  the  surrounding  woods.  There  was  a 
beautiful  intermingling  of  the  people  of  the  surrounding 
villages,  in  their  different  peasant  costumes ;  most  of 
them  were  the  parents  and  brothers  and  sisters  of  the 
children,  the  inhabitants  of  the  city  of  Salzung,  and  the 
bathing  guests  of  Liebenstein.  In  most  of  the  faces 
beamed  that  love  which  is  to  be  seen  in  the  countenance 
of  the  roughest  man,  when  his  highest  feeling  —  paternal 
love  —  is  stirred;  and  this  love  shone  especially  in  the 
eyes  of  the  old  white-haired  peasants  who  accompanied 
their  grandchildren.  The  love  of  grandparents  seems 
specially  lively  in  country  people.  Perhaps  their  narrow 
lives  and  the  rest  from  heavy  work,  which  old  age  in- 
sures, lead  them  to  concentrate  all  their  feelings  upon 
the  children  of  their  families,  whom  old  age  easily  under- 
stands. 

When  the  three  hundred  clear  children's  voices  sounded 
in  the  opening  song, 

"See  us  here  united," 

it  was  accompanied  by  a  kind  of  marching  play,  consisting 
of  various  evolutions  of  the  different  circles.  Then  the 
eyes  of  all  sparkled  with  joy,  and  none  turned  their  gaze 
from  the  players,  who,  like  all  simple  children,  entered  into 
the  play  with  unmistakable  joy  and  hilarity,  indeed,  with 
earnestness  and  devotion. 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          Ill 

To  children  their  play  is  life,  activity,  work,  and  enjoy- 
ment at  the  same  time,  therefore  they  plunge  into  it  with 
all  earnestness,  at  least  till  the  ecstasy  of  play  carries  them 
away  and  impels  the  livelier  temperaments  even  to  ex- 
travagance. This  extravagance  seldom  appears  in  the 
large  assembly  of  grown-up  players,  and  even  the  joy  of 
the  wildest  child  restrains  itself  within  certain  limits,  sug- 
gested by  the  feeling  of  fitness. 

This  was  the  case  here.  All  followed  the  voices  of  the 
leaders  of  the  play,  who  in  their  turn  obeyed  the  signs 
of  Froebel  and  Middendorff. 

Every  one  of  the  plays  that  succeeded  the  opening 
song  was  indicated  in  an  intelligent  manner  to  the  chil- 
dren less  by  the  words  of  the  song  than  by  the  action 
itself.  The  predominant  idea  was  always  an  interchange 
of  the  action  of  individuals  with  the  action  of  the  whole 
of  the  circle  (making  a  unit),  to  which  all  belonged. 
Soon  one  of  the  company  was  chosen  to  do  something 
in  the  midst  of  the  inner  circle,  as,  for  instance,  to  make 
some  one  systematic  motion  at  some  individual's  sugges- 
tion, which  all  the  rest  imitated,  or  some  one  determined 
and  directed  what  the  rest  should  do. 

For  instance,  the  different  circles  formed  garlands, 
each  one  of  which  represented  a  different  flower,  cele- 
brated in  the  song  as  the  emblem  of  a  different  virtue. 
At  the  close  they  all  united  in  a  single  circle,  represent- 
ing the  German  oak-wreath,  which,  as  a  symbol  of  Ger- 
man nationality,  united  them  in  one  whole. 

In  the  game  of  the  pigeon-house,  the  flying  out  of  the 
birds  into  the  distance  and  their  return  were  represented, 
and  the  doves  that  had  flown  out  were  required,  on  their 
return,  to  tell  the  rest  what  they  had  seen  or  heard. 


112  REMINISCENCES  OF   FROEBEL. 

SONG. 

We  open  the  pigeon-house  again 

And  set  all  the  happy  flutterers  free ; 

They  fly  o'er  field  and  grassy  plain, 

Delighted  with  joyous  liberty. 

Ana  when  they  return  from  their  merry  flight, 

We  shut  up  the  house  and  bid  them  good  night 

And  now  you  are  safe  and  happy  here, 

Tell  us  what  you  have  seen,  little  pigeon  dear. 

The  bird  tells  his  story,  and  then  says,  "  Coo,  coo, 

I  'm  so  glad,  dear  mother,  to  get  home  to  you." 

Then  the  children  represented  hedges  with  green  twigs, 
which  they  held  in  their  hands,  under  which  the  youngest 
children,  as  little  birds,  slipped  through,  singing  "  Little 
Bird  in  the  Wood." 

Similar  plays,  leading  the  children's  thoughts  into  na- 
ture and  the  life  of  animals,  are  very  numerous  in  the 
kindergarten. 

The  Salzungen  children,  who  were,  generally  speaking, 
larger  than  the  other  children,  practised  gymnastics  inter- 
mixed with  many  well-known  plays  of  the  children  of  the 
people,  whose  text  was  changed  to  suit  the  kindergarten. 
Generally,  the  peculiar  kindergarten  plays  were  the  most 
pleasing,  as  being  most  suitable  to  children. 

The  meaning  or  point  lying  at  the  foundation  of  each 
play,  which  comes  out  in  some  jocose  way  in  the  popular 
plays,  is  unintelligible  to  the  young  child,  or  at  least  un- 
suitable. The  present  condition  of  culture  requires  these 
plays  to  be  reformed  to  suit  the  times.  Froebel's  cloth- 
ing of  his  ideas  of  play,  which  are  to  awaken  determinate 
ideas  in  the  child's  soul,  is  not  always  happily  chosen, 
but  it  generally  hits  the  right  vein  in  the  sense  of  the 
child,  crystallizing  itself  around  what  springs  from  the 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          113 

childish  impulse  of  the  moment,  or  from  the  people's  wit, 
which  is  the  original  source  of  all  games. 

Froebel  has  succeeded  with  true  genius  in  interpreting 
and  giving  expression  to  the  sensuous  part  of  the  child's 
nature,  even  if  the  verses  which  express  it  are  often  very 
defective,  and  here  and  there  are,  on  reflection,  to  be 
condemned. 

And  the  music  of  the  songs,  which  were  the  popular 
melodies,  was  not  always  the  best.  Froebel  took  what 
was  at  hand,  for  he  was  neither  a  musician  nor  a  poet, 
and  he  only  aimed  at  embodying  his  intellectual  ideas. 
These  faults,  with  other  imperfections  incident  to  every 
work,  are  easily  to  be  improved  upon.  But  because  peo- 
ple have  as  yet  penetrated  so  little  into  the  deep  grounds 
of  Froebel's  educational  system,  criticism,  so  far  as  it 
exists  on  this  subject,  speaks  of  these  external  things 
alone,  the  poor  verses  and  songs,  the  versified  reflections, 
etc.,  not  separating  what  is  designed  for  the  children 
from  what  is  addressed  to  the  mother,  as  for  example  the 
mottoes  to  the  "  Mother  and  Cosset  Songs."  Such  su- 
perficial and  nonsensical  judgments  have,  however,  done 
injury  by  giving  occasion  for  the  so-called  advocates  who 
take  up  the  method  for  their  own  personal  ends,  to  make 
use  of  them  in  order  to  give  themselves  the  appearance  of 
impartial  judgment  in  their  own  pitiful,  bungling  work,  in 
which  they  often  make  use  of  Froebel's  thoughts  as  their 
own,  while  they  are  criticising  and  blaming  him.  These 
superficial  judges  are  not  capable  of  entering  into  the 
child's  nature,  to  which  their  standard  of  literary  worth 
does  not  apply.  The  lisping  babe  on  the  mother's  breast, 
and  the  little  child  of  five  years  old,  do  not  understand 
Goethe  and  Schiller.  But  surely  the  little  child  can  under- 


114          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

stand  when  it  is  allowed  to  look  at  the  animals  in  the 
yard,  and  to  sing  Froebel's  little  song  about  their  lan- 
guage :  — 

"  The  doves  fly,  and  the  little  colts  jump, 
The  little  geese  gabble,  and  '  Quack '  says  the  duck  1 
The  little  bees  hum,  and  moolly  cow  moos ; 
The  little  calf  frisks,  and  the  peacock  struts, 
The  little  lamb  baas,  and  the  old  sheep  bleats." 

These  indeed  are  neither  beautiful  thoughts  nor  beau- 
tiful verses,  but  the  right  language  for  the  young  child, 
whose  attention  we  wish  to  call  to  the  various  motions 
and  sounds  of  the  beasts,  putting  them  into  the  measured 
language  which  attracts  at  this  age  and  awakens  the 
sense  of  rhythm.  What  can  be  more  suitable  to  the 
child's  understanding  than  the  following  song  ? 

"  White  snow  comes  down  in  gentle  flakes ; 
The  field  is  covered,  the  seeds  are  safe ; 
All  snug  the  green  grass  lies  there  too ; 
By  and  by  it  will  peep  out  at  me  and  you ; 
When  the  snow  is  gone,  up  jumps  the  seed, 
Its  sleep  is  over,  —  grass  covers  the  mead ; 
The  stalk  grows  high,  the  corn  waves  in  the  ah" ;  — 
So  my  darling  will  grow  all  lovely  and  fair. 

"  In  the  close  hedge  mother  bird  makes  her  home ; 
In  the  pretty  nest  two  eggs  will  come ; 
When  the  little  birdies  peep  from  the  shell, 
The  mother  spreads  her  wings  to  keep  them  well ; 
Soon  they  grow  strong  to  fly  with  mamma, 
And  listen  to  songs  from  dear,  kind  papa." 

The  circle  of  children  make  the  pantomime  of  this 
with  their  arms  and  fingers :  first  the  falling  snow,  then 
the  snowy  cover  spreading  wide;  afterward  the  seed 
sprouting  up,  the  rising  of  the  cornstalk  and  the  bowing 
of  the  full  ears,  for  which  the  children  bow  their  heads. 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          11$ 

Joyfully  the  little  ones  listen  to  the  homely  songs  that 
accompany  the  finger-plays,  the  gymnastic  exercises  of 
the  child's  hands. 

Then  the  mother  shows  the  child  a  bird's-nest  by  inter- 
lacing his  little  hands,  and  sings, — 

"  On  the  tender  green  bough 
Mother  bird  builds  her  nest, 
And  drops  within  it  two  eggs. 

"  When  the  young  ones  are  born 
She  spreads  out  her  wings 
To  keep  them  all  snug  and  warm. 

"  By  and  by  the  birdies  call, 
'  Mother  dear,  peep,  peep, 
And  now  will  you  teach  us  to  sing  ? ' 

"  Then  they  sing  on  the  tree 
While  the  sun  shines  warm, 
And  Willy  shall  listen  with  me ! " 

Such  childish  songs  as  these  accompanying  the  child's 
observation  of  nature  are  quite  in  their  place.  To  the  un- 
comprehending critic  we  must  quote  Jean  Paul's  words  : 
L"  Stand  far  away  from  the  tender  flower  of  childhood,, 
and  brush  not  off  the  flower-dust  with  your  rough  fist."  J 
The  best  proof  that  most  of  Froebel's  plays  are  suited 
to  the  childish  mind  is  the  never-failing  joy  of  the  chil- 
dren, great  and  small,  in  playing  them  again  and  again. 
Even  grown-up  young  girls,  whether  kindergartners  or 
not,  indeed,  many  still  older  people  who  retain  their  sus- 
ceptibility to  the  pleasures  of  childhood,  practise  them 
with  children  or  among  themselves  with  great  delight. 
Every  institution  for  the  culture  of  kindergartners  affords 
proof  of  this. 

Whoever  could  contemplate  this  great  troop  of  children 


Il6  REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL. 

at  the  Altenstein  festival  without  the  deepest  emotion, 
could  have  his  feelings  stirred  by  nothing  purely  human. 
Even  the  country  people  who  had  grown  gray  with  rough 
work  expressed  deep  sympathy,  with  tears  of  happy 
emotion. 

"That  is  a  sight  for  the  heart!"  said  one.  "How 
beautifully  playful  the  children  are !  " 

"Yes,  Mr.  Froebel  understands  how  to  exercise  chil- 
dren ;  no  doubt  of  that ! "  said  another. 

"  This  is  delightful ! "  said  others. 

A  stout,  robust  peasant  who  had  accompanied  his 
grandchild,  said,  "  See  one  of  those  sacramental  child- 
people  who  knows  how  to  make  all  that  so  beautiful !  " 

A  stiff  military  captain  said  :  "  If  all  children  had  gym- 
nastic plays  of  this  kind,  the  drilling  of  recruits  would  be 
a  real  pleasure ! " 

A  lady  from  among  the  Liebenstein  guests  said  to 
Froebel,  with  tears  in  her  eyes,  "  I  never  saw  anything 
that  struck  me  like  this  child's  play.  It  seems  as  if  I 
were  in  a  church  ;  it  sounds  so  devotional." 

"  Yes,"  replied  Froebel,  "  that  is  the  uniting  power  of 
play  which  blesses  and  exalts  children,  and  even  grown- 
up people.     Real  human  joy  is  only  a  divine  worship,  for  j 
it  is  ordered  by  God." 

There  was  a  pause  for  rest,  and  the  children  spread 
themselves  on  the  turf-covered  banks  of  the  grove  in 
order  to  partake  of  the  refreshments  provided  for  them. 
The  grown-up  people  took  part  in  this,  and  enjoyed  it 
hardly  less  than  the  children.  When  this  pause  for  rest 
was  over,  and  they  were  making  arrangements  for  new 
plays,  the  family  of  the  Duke  came  to  look  on.  I  called 
Froebel  and  Middendorff  to  receive  them,  and  they  both 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  117 

approached,  glowing  with  heat,  and  their  faces  beaming 
with  happiness. 

The  Duchess  said,  "What  a  beautiful  sight  is  this 
troop  of  happy  children !  But  you  work  too  hard  in 
guiding  the  plays.  Won't  you  take  seats  with  us?" 
pointing  to  the  places  prepared  for  the  princes. 

Froebel  answered,  almost  with  irritation,  "No,  your 
Highness,  that  will  not  do ;  I  must  go  back  to  the  chil- 
dren ;  I  am  never  wearied ;  playing  animates  me  and 
makes  me  young  again." 

"  It  is  not  so  easy  at  your  years,"  said  the  Duke. 

"  Froebel  has  discovered  the  secret  of  remaining  for- 
(  ever  young,"  said  Middendorff.     "Among  children  one 
j  keeps  fresh,  and  does  not  grow  old." 
^      And  both  these  youthful  old  men  returned  to  the  circle 
of  the  playing  children,  of  which  they  had  not  lost  the 
least  motion,  as  the  sharp  glance  of  both  had  been  di- 
rected over  the  whole. 

The  young  nine-year-old  princess  looked  upon  the  play- 
ing with  the  liveliest  interest,  and,  as  it  appeared  to  me, 
with  longing  eyes,  as  if  she  would  gladly  have  taken  part 
in  it.  This  little  one  was  not  wholly  unacquainted  with 
Froebel's  occupations,  for  she  had  been  taught  some  of 
them,  especially  the  weaving,  by  Fraulein  Levin. 

The  children  of  the  great  in  this  world  must,  early  in 
life,  learn  to  do  without  that  which  makes  children  most 
happy,  —  association  with  companions  of  their  own  age, 
and  the  cordial  intimacies  of  childhood.  Rarely  can  they 
take  part  in  these.  The  unrestrained  freedom  of  chil- 
dren standing  on  the  lower  steps  of  the  social  ladder  is 
always  wanting  to  them.  The  advantages  which  they 
usually  have  in  their  education  hardly  outweigh  this  dis- 


Il8          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

advantage  connected  with  it.  In  the  conventional  world 
the  full  happiness  of  childhood  is  scarcely  ever  enjoyed. 
After  the  playing  was  ended,  and  the  princely  family 
had  conversed  with  amiable  courtesy  with  many  of  the 
company,  they  left  the  playground. 

The  troop  of  children  now  rested  again  to  get  strength 
for  returning  home,  which  some  of  the  youngest  had  to  do 
mostly  in  the  arms  of  their  parents.  When  the  columns 
were  arranged  anew,  they  were  first  led  before  the  ducal 
castle,  in  order  to  sing  a  song  of  thanks  for  the  favors 
they  had  received,  and  the  place  granted  for  the  festival. 
They  then  proceeded  to  a  spot  under  some  beautiful  old 
lindens,  below  Altenstein,  from  whence  the  road  parted 
to  the  different  districts.  The  garlanded  wagons  of  the 
Salzungers  were  waiting  here  to  take  home  the  young 
guests. 

But  the  children  were  again  obliged  to  rest  before  pro- 
ceeding on  their  way,  and  Middendorff  used  these  mo- 
ments to  speak  a  few  words  of  consecration  before  parting. 
He  stepped  upon  a  stone  table  that  stood  under  the  lin- 
dens, in  order  to  gain  a  hearing,  and  then  out  of  his  full 
heart,  with  the  inward  earnestness  peculiar  to  himself, 
spoke  to  the  children  and  their  parents.  After  he  had 
reminded  the  children  (the  older  of  whom  could  fully 
understand  his  words)  that  they  were  to  thank  their  par- 
ents for  the  day  of  pleasure,  and  their  Father  in  heaven 
for  his  goodness,  and  must  deserve  a  repetition  of  it  by 
their  future  industry  in  school  and  by  obedience  and  love 
at  home,  he  cried  out  to  the  parents  Froebel's  motto,. 
I  '  Come,  let  us  live  with  our  children,  that  all  things  may  \ 
\  be  better  here  on  earth,"  and  explained  to  them  its  ) 
\jneaning. 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          119 

Among  other  things,  he  said  :  "  The  time  is  now  come 
in  which  the  human  race,  according  to  God's  decree,  is 
to  rise  to  a  higher  stage  of  life.  At  such  a  time  there  is 
already  a  great  movement  in  all  minds,  and  also  in  outer 
life,  as  is  the  case  at  present,  when  everything  evil  which 
has  been  concealed  comes  into  view,  and  hinders  the 
good  and  the  progress  which  should  come.  Hence  it  is 
now  fitting  that  every  one  should  help  to  conquer  the 
evil  and  make  a  free  path  for  the  good.  The  first  thing 
to  be  done  is  to  make  better  men  by  a  good  education 
of  the  children.  Therefore  Froebel  calls  upon  his  con- 
temporaries to  live  with  the  children  in  order  through 
them  to  solve  the  great  problems  of  the  time  for  the 
future. 

/  "  Froebel  has  regained  the  lost  paradise  in  his  kinder- 
gartens, in  which  little  children  are  guarded  as  much  as 
possible  from  sin,  and  are  trained  to  become  virtuous 
men  and  women  by  the  harmonious  development  of  their 
powers  and  dispositions.  Childish  innocence  belongs 
only  to  the  first  years  of  life.  Hence  they  are  to  be 
protected  and  guarded  at  the  beginning,  and  that  is  the 
task  of  the  mother ;  but  all  mothers  and  maidens  should 
help  to  build  up  and  take  care  of  the  kindergarten,  in 
order  that  pure  human  life  may  prosper. 

"  The  child-festival  of  to-day  has  given  one  aspect  of 
the  paradise  of  childhood.  Let  all  hold  it  fast  in  remem- 
brance, and  follow  the  call  of  the  time,  which  is  God's 
call,  and  be,  as  Froebel  says,  true  guardians  and  garden- 
ers of  children." 

The  assembly  had  listened  to  Middendorff's  words  in 
profound  stillness,  interrupted  only  here  and  there  by 
the  low  sobbing  of  some  of  the  mothers.  When  he  had 


120  REMINISCENCES    OF    FROEBEL. 

ended,  the  whole  company  pressed  up  to  him  and  to 
Froebel,  to  take  their  hands  and  express  their  warm 
thanks.  All  the  hands  were  grasped,  and  nothing  was 
heard  but  concurrence  and  good  wishes. 

An  old  woman  of  one  of  the  villages  said,  "  How 
beautifully  Herr  Middendorff  speaks.  It  seems  as  if  our 
Saviour  himself  was  speaking." 

u  How  happy  I  am  to  have  been  at  this  festival ! " 
said  one  of  the  Liebenstein  guests  from  a  great  distance. 

"  I  only  wish  we  could  have  such  among  us,"  said 
another. 

"  God's  blessing  rests  upon  such  a  day,"  said  an  old 
peasant,  and,  deeply  moved,  pressed  Froebel's  hand, 
who  stood  with  glorified  features  looking  at  the  children 
himself,  —  "the  new  buds  on  the  tree  of  humanity,"  as 
he  called  them,  whose  blooming  he  felt  he  had  furthered 
by  the  day's  festival,  the  exemplar  of  a  custom  to  be 
universal. 

We  now  broke  up,  while  all  repeated  once  more  the 
children's  closing  songs  :  "  Friends,  let  us  part,"  etc.,  and 
"  Farewell,  to  meet  again." 

The  description  Froebel  wrote  of  the  festival  ends  in 
these  words :  "  Yes,  it  was  a  festival  of  the  union  of 
nature,  man,  and  God,  and  God's  blessing  rests  on  such 
a  day,  as  the  old  peasant  expressed  it.  How  easily 
might  such  child  and  youth  festivals  be  exalted  to  a 
universal  -  people's  festival !  Should  we  not  do  every- 
thing to  call  such  festivals  into  life,  that  so  we  may  at 
last  reach  what  the  hearts  of  all  desire,  an  all-sided 
'unity  of  life?'"* 

*  The  description  is  printed  in  the  third  volume  of  Froebel's  work, 
"  Pedagogics  of  the  Kindergarten." 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          121 

The  troops  of  children  had  gone  forth  ;  on  every  side 
sounded  the  clear  childish  voices,  repeating  the  last 
strophes  of  the  parting  song.  The  sun  was  going  down, 
a  crystal-clear,  glorious  sunset,  as  Froebel  said  when  the 
grown-up  of  the  Marienthal  circle  broke  up  to  go  home. 
All  were  rejoicing  in  the  soft  moonlight  of  the  summer 
evening,  which  was  exceptionally  beautiful  in  our  cli- 
mate. In  Froebel's  and  MiddendorfFs  faces  was  a  high, 
holy  content,  as  they  now  walked  silently  away,  inwardly 
happy  in  having  brought  a  long-cherished  thought  into 
fulfilment  in  such  a  beautiful  manner. 

Froebel  said,  at  last :  "  O,  other  child-festivals  will 
follow  ours !  Since  one  has  been  realized,  why  may 
they  not  be  nationalized,  for  they  have  a  true  and  beau- 
tiful meaning  ?  People's  festivals  for  a  higher,  nobler 
humanity  will  follow,  and  contribute  their  part  to  the 
final  attainment  of  the  complete  '  unity  of  life.' " 

"  It  has  often  occurred  to  me  during  our  festival  to- 
day," I  said,  "  what  is  expressed  by  Goethe  in  his 
*  School  Regions '  {Pedagogischen  Provinzeri)  in  the 
Wanderjahre,  which  coincides  in  many  ways  with  your 
views,  particularly  the  symbolic  form  which  is  there 
given." 

"  Yes,  and  to  think,"  answered  Froebel,  "  that  I  have 
never  yet  read  Goethe's  Wanderjahre.  My  intention  to 
do  so  was  always  baffled,  so  I  only  know  the  Lehrjahre 
and  its  sequel  from  hearsay," 

"  O,  then  we  must  immediately  take  the  Wanderjahre 
in  hand  !  "  I  exclaimed.  "  I  will  bring  it  to  you,  and  also 
a  book  upon  Egyptian  antiquities,  in  which  I  have  lately 
found  some  passages  proving  the  truth  of  your  educa- 
tional views." 


122          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

We  separated  here,  and  took  leave  of  Middendorff, 
who  unfortunately  could  not  remain  away  from  Keilhau 
more  than  a  few  days,  but  he  promised  to  make  another 
visit  in  the  autumn. 

"  It  was  beautiful !  "  were  his  last  spoken  words. 

When  I  went,  on  the  afternoon  of  the  next  day,  to 
see  Froebel,  in  order  to  read  to  him  Goethe's  "  School 
Regions,"  he  was  already  busy  with  his  description  of 
the  festival.     But  he  gave  me  a  willing  hearing,  and  was 
truly  in  transport  at   Goethe's   educational   views   and 
their  expression  in  the    Wanderjahre.      He  often  inter- 
rupted me  with  such  childlike  exclamations  as  :  "  How 
well   Goethe   understands  the  nature  of  man  in  child- 
hood ! "     "  He  has   also  found  that  the  connection  of 
human  history  must  be  held  fast  if  a  new  development 
is  to  be  attained.     We  must  look  upon  our  children  as 
a  product  of  the  past  if  we  would  lead  them  into  the 
•  future  !  "     "  Childhood  can  only  be  led  through  symbols 
,'  to  the  understanding  of  truth  and  the  understanding  of 
;'  itself.     It  needs  symbolic  action."     "  Gestures  have  the 
/  greatest  significance  for  childhood." 

Goethe  also  recognized  this  when  he  spoke  of  the 
manner  of  greeting  of  children  of  different  ages  in  the 
"School  Regions." 

Goethe,  truly,  with  his  seer's  glance  into  the  future 
human  development,  could  not  but  concur  in  Froebel's 
view,  which  also  embraced  humanity  in  its  past,  present, 
and  future.  What  does  his  expression  in  Faust  (Second 
Part),  "  Everything  is  a  parable,"  mean,  but  that  every- 
thing is  the  symbol  of  an  idea  ?  He  maintained,  like 
Froebel,  that  a  symbol  of  the  truth  must  go  before  the 
word,  to  aid  the  human  mind  in  its  development. 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  123 

Froebel  busied  himself  especially  with  the  beginning 
of  human  culture,  and  with  what  the  earliest  childhood 
of  man  betokens,  therefore  everything  particularly  inter- 
ested him  which  had  reference  to  it.  I  called  his  atten- 
tion to  the  fact  stated  in  the  above-mentioned  volume 
upon  Egypt,  that  in  the  beginning  of  the  culture  of  that 
country  the  three  graces,  or  goddesses  of  beauty,  were 
represented  by  three  cubes  leaning  upon  each  other, — 
by  which  he  was  made  as  happy  as  if  he  had  discovered 
a  treasure. 

"  You  see,  now,  how  correct  is  my  choice  of  the  cube 
as  the  first  regular  form,  for  the  child's  inspection,  next 
after  the  sphere.  The  Egyptians  did  not  know  that  it 
was  the  first  regular  form  of  solid  bodies  in  nature  or 
crystallization.  But  the  regular  symmetrical  forms  of  na- 
ture, because  they  are  the  fundamental  forms  (types)  of  all 
phenomena,  are  only  to  be  found  in  nature.  Man  car- 
ries in  his  mind  natural  forms  and  their  law  as  an  inward 
testimony  of  his  origin  ;  so  far  he  is  a  child  of  nature.  The 
ancients  had  this  presentiment  of  the  truth.  We  moderns 
shall  come  to  a  consciousness  of  it." 

"  This  peculiar  fact  in  regard  to  the  cube  form,  men- 
tioned in  my  writings,  has  been  frequently  repeated  in 
the  writings  of  others." 

I  also  quoted  to  Froebel  out  of  KreutzeSs  Symbotik, 
that  "  golden  balls  were  given  to  the  young  Bacchus  to 
play  with,  by  his  educator,  and  also  that  the  young 
princes  of  Persia  played  with  such,  and  alone  had  this- 
privilege."  This  plunged  Froebel  into  deep  thought,  and 
he  said  :  "  What  a  power  of  presentiment !  Yes,  the 
presentiment  of  truth  always  goes  before  recognition 
of  it.  To  show  unity  in  the  sphere  is  the  greatest  privi- 


124          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

lege,  for  God  is  unity,  and  the  undeveloped  man  can 
behold  unity  only  in  a  symbol." 

At  such  moments  the  seer  in  Froebel  came  forth.  It 
was  as  if  he  looked  far  back  into  the  past  of  humanity, 
and  there  sought  the  thread  which  from  the  beginning 
connects  all  times  and  leads  to  the  farthest  future,  even 
to  the  goal. 


CHAPTER    X. 

HERR  VON   WYDENBRUGK. 

T7ROEBEL  had  built  hopes  on  the  visit  of  Von  Wy- 
_L  denbrugk,  the  minister,  who  superintended  educa- 
tional matters  in  Weimar,  and  believed  that  his  support 
of  the  cause  would  insure  its  firm  establishment  in  that 
part  of  Germany  at  least.  To  judge  from  the  lively 
interest  that  Von  Wydenbrugk,  as  well  as  the  minis^er- 
president,  Watzdorff,  had  expressed  in  my  communica- 
tions concerning  Froebel's  educational  idea  (during  my 
stay  in  Weimar  the  preceding  winter  of  1850)  and  in 
connection  with  the  sympathy  of  the  princely  family,  this 
expectation  of  their  official  support  and  assistance  in 
the  introduction  of  the  cause  was  justified.  Too  much, 
however,  is  always  expected  from  influential  people,  and 
in  most  cases  more  than  they  are  in  a  condition  to  give 
with  their  best  will ;  for  the  thousand  obstacles  they 
have  to  conquer  are  not  always  perceived.  The  greatest 
of  these  obstacles  generally  come  from  subalterns  through 
whose  agency  only  can  innovations  be  brought  about. 
The  power  of  a  minister  seldom  reaches  to  carrying 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          12$ 

reforms  immediately  into  operation,  if  their  necessity  or 
the  beneficial  effect  of  the  means  necessary  for  their 
accomplishment  is  undervalued  by  the  subordinates,  or 
perhaps  not  wished  for  by  them  on  some  other  grounds. 
How  little  could  even  great  minds,  like  Stein's  and  Har- 
denberg's,  carry  through  in  their  own  lifetime  the  reforms 
which  they  strove  for !  Indeed,  even  rulers  upon  thrones 
cannot  always  do  what  they  would.  Joseph  If.  died 
of  a  broken  heart  because  his  great  ideas  were  neither 
appreciated  nor  could  be  carried  out.  Contemporaries 
are  never  ripe  for  understanding  the  ideas  of  minds  in 
advance  of  their  time.  Posterity  only  can  understand 
and  carry  them  out  to  their  full  extent. 

To  these  advanced  ideas  belongs  Froebel's  educational 
principle.  We  should  have  spared  ourselves  many  a 
painful  disappointment  at  the  time,  if  we  had  always 
remembered  this  universal  historical  experience.  But 
painful  experiences  are  spared  to  none  who  strive  for  those 
improvements  for  which  everything  must  be  attempted 
that  promises  any  good  consequences. 

So  we  attempted,  during  the  several  days'  stay  of  the 
minister  Von  Wydenbrugk  in  Liebenstein,  to  gain  him 
over  to  our  plans.  He  was  my  table  neighbor  at  the 
Kurhaus,  which  gave  me  many  opportunities  of  speaking 
with  him  on  the  subject.  I  saw  at  once  that  many  objec- 
tions occurred  to  his  mind  in  consequence  of  consulta- 
tions with  two  prominent  schoolmen  of  the  district,  who 
had  influence  on  account  of  their  knowledge,  but  who 
had  shown  neither  good-will  to  Froebel  nor  real  ac- 
quaintance with  his  idea,  and  Froebel  already  looked 
upon  them  as  opponents.  Then  came  the  well-known 
hesitation  at  every  reform  and  innovation,  which  makes 
all  good  things  so  difficult  of  accomplishment. 


126  REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL. 

"Caution  must  be  used  at  present  in  regard  to  the 
pursuit  of  novelties,  and  the  foolish  plans  everywhere 
prevailing  would  lead  to  abuse.  The  idea  of  connecting 
practical  work  with  the  school  has  already  proved  to  be 
unattainable  ;  the  requisite  improvement  of  the  school 
has  been  gained  through  Pestalozzi's  method,  whose  uni- 
versal adoption  is  first  to  be  striven  for.  In  Froebel's 
method  so  much  is  found  that  is  obscure  and  impractica- 
ble that  we  must  not  lavish  public  money  upon  it  before 
it  has  been  tested  by  private  investigations.  Children 
and  youth  should  not  be  given  up  to  experiments  whose 
success  has  not  been  proved,"  etc.,  —  and  other  objec- 
tions not  applicable  in  themselves  to  a  definite  thing,  but 
true  in  general. 

The  most  useful  and  important  reforms  are  often  dis- 
missed and  their  advocates  shoved  aside,  instead  of  being 
granted  a  thorough  trial  of  the  subject,  which  a  practical 
experiment  would  often  justify.  We  owe  to  this  reject- 
ing caution  of  Philistines  that  some  reforms  have  been 
adopted  too  late  to  be  of  any  use  to  the  present  genera- 
tion. Extreme  necessity  often  first  opens  the  eyes  to 
means  of  help  that  have  long  been  at  hand,  whose  timely 
application  would  have  averted  great  evils. 

This  ever-recurring  experience  is  fully  applicable  to 
Froebel's  educational  method,  which  will  only  be  uni- 
versally appreciated  when  the  evil  consequences  of  a 
popular  education  not  in  consonance  with  the  wants  of 
the  time,  and  laden  with  crying  faults,  shall  open  the  most 
purblind  eyes. 

Herr  Von  Wydenbrugk  had  incontestably  the  most 
thorough  interest  and  the  best  will  for  all  the  improve- 
ments which  the  time  demands,  especially  for  those  whicb 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.  127 

promised  the  right  education  for  the  people.  He  did 
not,  like  many  other  dignitaries,  look  down  superciliously 
upon  Froebel's  strivings,  which  embrace  for  the  first  time 
the  care  of  the  germs  of  human  power  and  their  correct- 
nurture  in  early  childhood.  The  great  use  of  an  early 
development  of  the  working  powers,  in  view  of  its  eco- 
nomical as  well  as  moral  influence,  was  perfectly  plain  to 
him  ;  and,  personally,  he  was  quite  ready  to  further  the 
cause  as  far  as  possible,  "  when  the  right  moment  should 
come,"  as  he  often  said. 

And  truly  at  that  time  it  seemed,  on  the  side  of  the 
magistrates,  that  the  right  moment  had  not  come,  because 
among  the  adherents  of  the  Froebel  cause  were  found 
many  who  were  compromised  politically,  and  who  inter- 
preted it  In  their  own  sense,  giving  their  countenance  to 
it  precisely  because  it  belonged  to  the  novelties  of  the 
time,  and  laid  great  stress  upon  the  free  development  of 
the  human  being. 

But  Froebel's  views  on  education  for  freedom  were 
certainly  very  different  from  those  of  the  youthful  fanatics 
and  agitators,  who  thought  to  teach  freedom  by  the  over- 
throw of  national  order. 

When  I  spoke  of  education  for  freedom,  Herr  Von  Wy- 
denbrugk  warned  me  not  to  use  that  expression,  for  it 
would  always  give  rise  to  misapprehensions.  "  It  is  in- 
deed not  clear  to  me,"  said  he,  "  how  far  you  think  this 
mode  of  designation  is  correct  yourself. " 

"  Certainly,"  said  I,  "  it  is  correct,  inasmuch  as  men 
can  be  made  capable  of  outward  or  political  freedom 
only  when  they  have  been  educated  to  the  requisite  de- 
gree of  inward  freedom.  •,  Only  a  correct  education  from 
the  beginning  can  teach  to  individuals  the  necessary  self- 


128  REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

• 

government  and  self-restraint,  and  the  necessity  of  their  ; 
submission  to  natural  laws.  All  the  teaching  at  universi- 
ties upon  national  rights  and  national  law  are  inadequate 
to  spread  universally  the  right  view  that  the  state,  as  such, 
with  its  arrangements,  is  the  necessary  condition  of  the 
freedom  of  the  whole,  and  therewith  the  freedom  of  in- 
dividuals. It  is  only  for  the  most  part  a  vanishing  mi- 
nority which  frequents  the  universities,  and  even  of  this 
minority  only  a  part  comes  away  with  a  correct  view,  as 
is  sufficiently  proved  by  many  of  the  leaders  of  the  pres- 
ent revolutionary  movement,  the  majority  of  whom  are 
scholarly  men. 

"  Besides  this,  mere  knowledge,  or  rather  knowledge 
gained  only  through  literary  instruction,  without  contem- 
poraneous personal  experience,  does  not  suffice  to  make 
men  capable  of  the  self-government  and  self-restraint 
necessary  for  true  freedom.  Students  who  almost  daily 
hear  lectures  upon  national  and  natural  law  are  not  pre- 
vented thereby  from  occasionally  committing  the  greatest 
misdemeanors,  and  from  speaking  with  contempt  of  all 
law  and  order.  Undoubtedly  it  would  be  timely  to  make 
arrangements  through  some  schools  for  advanced  culture 
to  instruct  the  mass  of  the  people  in  their  civic  duties 
and  rights  and  the  laws  of  the  land.  But  that  would  not 

<  be  sufficient  to  protect  the  freedom  gained  from  abuse ; 

Ythe  early  habits  of  life  are  the  main  things  that  later  de- 
cide the  issue."  So  long  as  the  children  of  the  masses 
remain  without  education,  before  and  with  the  school, 
and  are  left  to  the  lawlessness  of  street  life,  so  long  they 
cannot  be  ripe  and  fitted  for  free  national  institutions, 

"  Let  us  only  look  upon  the  little  vagabonds  who  have 
grown  up  in  asylums,  and  see  how  hard  it  has  been  to 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          129 

win  them  to  a  well-ordered  life.  They  had  rather  suffer 
hunger  and  thirst,  and  bear  all  the  possible  privations  of 
their  free  robber  life,  than  give  themselves  up  to  the  con- 
straint and  order  of  even  those  institutions  which  are 
conducted  with  love  and  gentleness  !  In  fact,  the  pub- 
lic notices  of  the  asylums  founded  in  New  York  for 
homeless  children  testify  that,  in  spite  of  all  the  ameni- 
ties offered  in  these  institutions,  a  considerable  number 
of  the  children  always  prefer,  even  in  rough  weather, 
to  find  their  usual  sleeping-places  in  the  open  air,  in 
sheds,  on  steps,  under  bridges,  rather  than  be  subjected 
to  the  domestic  arrangements  of  the  asylums  designed 
for  their  good.  So  much  for  the  power  of  habit  and 
the  desire  for  rude  freedom,  when  the  restraints  of  morals 
and  of  the  habits  of  orderly  life  do  not  exercise  their  in- 
fluence early.  The  storm-spirit  breaks  loose,  or  an  uncon- 
strained and  lawless  life  gets  the  upper  hand  when  room 
and  opportunity  offer." 

"  Even  the  best  education  cannot  prevent  that,"  said 
Herr  Von  Wydenbrugk.  "  Men  always  remain  men,  that 
is,  imperfect  beings." 

"  But  the  progressive  development  of  men  under  all 
circumstances,"  was  my  answer,  "  has  to  combat  the  evil 
of  every  time,  and  circumstances  are  always  different 
according  to  the  change  of  epoch.  Should  we  not  in  our 
time,  therefore,  seek  for  the  causes  why  children  do  not 
obey  their  parents  any  better,  and  why  the  great  mass  of 
the  citizens  will  not  obey  the  magistrates  and  their  ordi- 
nances? You  grant  that  general  revolutionary  move- 
ments have  some  historic  ground  to  justify  them,  and  that 
a  great  measure  of  general  freedom  must  be  granted  at 
the  present  time  ? " 


130  REMINISCENCES  OF   FROEBEL. 

"  Yes,"  interrupted  the  minister,  "  but  it  can  only  be 
granted  when  preservation  of  the  state  and  its  order  are 
guaranteed." 

"  Certainly,"  said  I,  "  that  is  obvious  ;  the  granting 
of  the  demand  for  a  more  extended  political  freedom, 
which  is  not  to  be  put  off,  involves  a  condition  at  the 
same  time  of  providing  for  its  right  use,  and  for  a  protec- 
tion from  its  abuse.  In  the  emancipated  slave,  or  the 
rough  masses,  the  capacity  for  this  is  completely  wanting. 
The  very  knowledge  of  the  necessity  of  law  is  wanting 
to  them.  They  will  always  transgress  it  whenever  and 
wherever  they  have  freedom.  Therefore  power  must 
always  be  arrayed  against  power. 

"The  obedience  of  individuals,  in  the  interest  of  the 
whole  human  race,  has  been  and  will  continue  to  be  ne- 
cessary. In  the  lower  stages  of  development,  blind  obe- 
dience to  parents  and  superiors,  like  servile  submission 
under  national  authority,  was  necessary  to  the  existence 
of  social  order.  The  further  historical  development  of 
men  and  circumstances  has  given  more  value  to  the  per- 
sonality of  individuals  in  reference  to  the  whole,  and 
therefore  individual  right  has  come  into  conflict  with 
national  right. 

"  That  blind  obedience  and  servile  subjection  of  earlier 
times  have  now  become  an  impossibility,  and  will  become 
more  so  the  further  the  consciousness  of  personal  right 
is  cultivated  and  impressed  upon  the  masses.  Nothing 
is  left,  then,  but  to  set  free  obedience  in  the  place  of 
blind  obedience,  and  to  render  the  rough  masses,  through 
cultivation,  capable  of  seeing  that  only  the  self-restraint 
of  individuals  and  their  voluntary  subjection  to  law  make 
greater  freedom  in  society  possible.  That  mode  of  edu- 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          131 

cation  which  can  solve  this  problem  may  justly  be  called 
'  education  for  freedom.'  Only  he  who  does  not  know  ' 
the  whole  power  and  importance  of  the  first  impressions 
and  earliest  habits  of  life  can  laugh  at  Froebel  for  placing 
in  the  earliest  childhood  the  foundation  for  the  later  life 
of  the  citizen,  and  for  making  the  mind  of  the  child 
receptive  of  legitimate  order  before  wilfulness  and  law- 
lessness have  become  fixed  conditions  in  it. 

"  The  Spartans  took  the  nurslings  from  their  mothers 
in  order  to  educate  them  for  a  national  end.  It  would 
have  been  better  if  they  had  taken  care  of  the  correct 
education  of  the  mothers  for  their  educational  office. 
And  if  the  Jesuits,  in  spite  of  their  opposition  to  an 
advanced  culture,  are  yet  always  able  to  bring  about  the 
blindest  subjection  to  the  decrees  of  the  church  and  its 
dominion,  then  education  to  free  obedience,  which  is  in 
harmony  with  the  demands  of  the  time,  will  also  be 
possible." 

"  Shall  we  not,  then,"  said  Herr  von  Wydenbrugk, 
laughing,  "  like  the  Spartans,  according  to  the  views  of 
our  great  Fichte,  withdraw  all  children  from  the  family, 
to  educate  them  in  national  institutions  ? " 

"  That  neither  you  nor  any  one  else  who  is  acquainted 
with  Froebel's  method  can  really  believe,  since  the  edu- 
cation of  the  female  sex  for  its  maternal  duties  is  his  first 
requisition.  But  can  it  hinder  or  disturb  family  educa- 
tion in  any  way,  if,  by  means  of  kindergartens,  a  place  of 
education  is  created  which  represents  a  miniature  state 
for  children,  in  which  the  young  citizen  can  learn  to 
move  freely,  but  with  consideration  for  his  little  fellows  ? 
That  cannot  be  done,  at  least  in  the  -family ;  it  needs  a 
larger  social  circle,  for  in  the  family  the  mother  or  the 


132  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

nurse  is  already  accustomed  to  foster  in  the  nursling 
wilfulness  and  the  spirit  of  opposition.  Family  educa- 
tion, even  under  circumstances  still  so  bad,  must  remain  ; 
but  a  corrective  and  complement  must  be  given  to  it,  and 
this  before  the  school. 

"This  pressing  want  has  been  met  for  the  children 
of  the  working  and  poorer  classes  in  a  certain  way  by 
asylums.  If  it  were  not  for  their  salutary  influence,  the 
present  savagery  would  doubtless  be  greater  than  it  is. 
How  many  children,  who  receive  only  demoralizing  in- 
fluences in  , their  homes,  and  are  almost  constrained  to 
lawlessness  and  obstinacy,  have  had  the  only  moral 
nourishment  of  their  whole  lives  in  these  institutions! 
This  is  acknowledged,  yet  the  old  method  of  exacting 
passive  obedience  still  prevails  in  them.  Many  condi- 
tions wanting  in  them  must  be  fulfilled,  in  order  to  edu- 
cate the  right  citizens  of  the  future. 

"  The  people's  kindergartens,  or  the  asylums  that  have 
been  reformed  in  conformity  to  the  times,  fulfil  these 
conditions. 

"  Besides  the  greater  freedom  of  movement  of  the 
pupils  in  what  one  may  call,  from  its  analogy  to  the  state, 
an  orderly,  lawful  community  of  life,  something  is  added 
which  constitutes  the  chief  lever  for  order  and  the  chief 
means  against  all  misuse  of  freedom.  This  is  the  use 
of  powers  adapted  to  the  age  of  children.  All  unused 
power  seeks  some  outlet.  If  it  is  restrained,  it  explodes. 
This  is  also  the  case  with  human  powers.  What  are 
revolutions  but  the  explosions  of  the  unregulated,  unused 
powers  of  men,  whose  way  to  make  them  manifest  in 
a  lawful  and  appropriate  manner  has  been  effectively 
blocked  ?  This  is  the  case,  more  or  less,  even  with  noble 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          133 

men  when  they  oppose  existing  national  evils  for  the  ideal 
of  better  conditions. 

"  No  one,  neither  the  adult  nor  the  child,  finds  well- 
being  and  content  without  the  use,  that  is  to  say  without 
the  development,  of  his  powers. 

"  If  this  just  demand  is  not  fulfilled,  the  lower  or  ani- 
mal side  of  the  human  being  seeks  its  welfare  in  the 
gratification  of  its  coarse  impulses. 

"  There  is  no  need  of  any  constraint  or  any  command 
for  that  activity  which  is  in  harmony  with  the  being  of 
man  in  general,  and  at  the  same  time  with  his  individual 
disposition,  and  it  will  act  freely  and  with  love,  and  not 
overstep  the  measure  of  the  powers  at  different  ages. 

"  This  free  activity  is  one  of  the  chief  conditions  of  an 
education  for  freedom,  but  it  is  only  possible  when  the 
law  of  free  creativeness  is  known  and  applied ;  for  that  a 
free  creativeness  only  can  be  a  lawful  one,  we  are  taught 
by  the  smallest  blade  of  grass,  whose  development  takes 
place  only  according  to  immutable  laws. 

"  In  so  far  as  Froebel  has  learned  from  nature  (or  from 
the  Creator)  the  law  of  creation,  he  can  apply  it  to  the 
productions  of  human,  and  therefore  of  childish,  powers, 
and  make  really  free  creation  possible  to  them. 

"  This  sounds  mysterious  and  mystical.  It  is  a  riddle 
before  we  see  how  the  egg  is  made  to  stand  on  its  end. 
Only  he  who  arrives  at  the  knowledge  of  its  solution 
can  understand  Froebel's  method,  which,  without  that,  is 
wholly  wanting  in  significance.  But  it  is  a  very  difficult 
task  to  give  such  knowledge  to  others  by  words,  without 
their  own  observation  and  experience." 

"  The  word  '  mystical '  does  not  recommend  anything 
in  our  day,"  said  the  minister.  "  More  than  ever  men  de- 
sire clearness  and  understanding  in  all  things." 


134          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

"Every  new  theory  that  comes  into  the  world,"  I  replied, 
"seems  more  or  less  mystical,  because  it  is  not  quite  under- 
stood ;  and  it  is  not  quite  understood  because  it  has  not 
yet  found  its  place  among  the  generally  received  views, 
and  the  right  formula  and  expression  are  yet  wanting  to 
it.  Therefore  it  happens  that  every  new  thing  comes 
first  into  the  nands  of  the  rapacious,  who  have  no  under- 
standing for  ideas,  and  only  take  hold  of  their  outer  rind 
to  make  them  serviceable  for  their  own  ends.  That  all 
formation  in  the  material  as  in  the  intellectual  world  pro- 
ceeds according  to  law,  we  know ;  but  the  how  of  this 
proceeding  we  know  not.  This  law,  which  lies  at  the 
foundation  of  every  process  of  development,  must  be 
recognized  by  the  human  mind  as  that  law  according  to 
which  all  formation  proceeds.  It  is  the  law  by  which 
God  creates  all  things.  And  man,  whose  destiny  it  is  to 
imitate  what  God  has  created,  can  only  produce  his  own 
works  according  to  the  same  law,  since  the  human  mind  of 
itself  can  discover  no  law,  —  that  is,  no  original  law, — but 
everything  is  fixed  and  determined  by  God.  Man  only 
creates  relatively  by  ever  new  combinations  of  existing 
things,  while  God  alone  is  an  absolute  creator, — creates 
all  things  out  of  himself.  The  unconscious  creativeness 
of  instinct  in  the  animal  world  as  in  the  human  world 
proceeds  according  to  this  same  law  of  formation.  The 
childish  instinct  bears  the  same  law  within  itself  as  that 
by  which  the  spider  weaves  and  the  silk-worm  spins  and 
the  bee  makes  its  cell.  Therefore  the  mind  of  the  child, 
living  still  in  the  twilight  of  unconsciousness,  can  easily 
apply  this  lawful  procedure  as  soon  as  it  is  brought  before 
his  eyes  in  an  elementary  manner,  in  concrete  things,  and 
he  is  shown  the  mode  of  applying  it.  It  is  only  because 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          135 

Froebel  recognized  this  law  of  all  formation,  and  found 
the  method  of  its  application,  that  his  educational  method 
is  truly  conformable  to  nature,  since  it  leaves  the  natural 
process  of  development  partly  to  self-activity,  and  guides 
and  supports  it  according  tq  that  law.  Therefore  on  this 
side,  that  is,  for  the  activity  that  exercises  all  the  powers 
and  tendencies,  free  obedience  is  secured ;  for  every  being 
strives,  must  strive,  for  his  own  development,  how  uncon- 
scious soever  this  striving  may  be. 

"This  free  production  or  creative  activity  shows  the 
stamp  of  originality  in  the  human  being  yet  undimmed, 
however  it  may  be  obscured  through  deviation  from  God's 
law,  in  consequence  of  the  freedom  granted  to  him,  and 
the  inheritance  of  the  sin  and  guilt  of  his  ancestors. 
Formative  activity  brings  to  light  the  individual  tenden- 
cies and  peculiarities,  makes  each  individual  know  him- 
self, and  creates  that  satisfaction  and  sense  of  dignity 
which  is  inseparably  connected  with  it. 

"  In  early  childhood  the  outward  form  of  this  activity 
can  only  be  that  of  play.  To  convert  this  play  into  cre- 
ative action,  in  the  smallest  measure,  offers  to  the  develop- 
ment of  the  whole  being,  from  the  very  beginning,  a  sup- 
port and  a  guide  as  counterpoise  to  all  wilfulness,  which 
leads  astray  from  the  right.  At  the  same  time,  through 
this  free  action  of  the  individual  tendencies,  a  counter- 
poise is  gained  to  the  levelling  tendencies  ( Gleichmacherei) 
of  our  present  conventional  mode  of  education,  which  in 
the  school  and  in  the  family  proceeds  only  in  a  formal 
way,  according  to  traditional  prescriptions  or  demands, 
without  respect  to  the  measure  of  the  powers  of  the 
pupils  and  the  new  demands  of  our  time.  The  conse- 
quence is,  that  a  too  early  excitement  and  overstraining 


136          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

reduces  and  weakens  the  sum  of  the  powers,  deadens  and 
turns  into  machines  the  great  majority  who  thus  are  in- 
capable of  living  out  in  an  original  way  the  divine  ideas 
dwelling  in  every  being. 

"  All  progress,  all  culture,  is  the  result  of  the  original 
creativeness  of  the  minds  of  every  age,  which  have  been 
able  to  increase  the  sum  of  existing  intellectual  and  mate- 
rial wealth  by  producing  something  new. 

"  The  imitators  in  a  generation  who  allow  themselves 
to  be  satisfied  with  what  they  have  found  at  hand,  and 
live  and  do  only  as  they  have  been  accustomed  to  do, 
can  never  bring  about  such  an  enrichment  of  civilization. 
Through  them  no  advance,  nothing  new,  has  come  into 
the  world. 

"The  creative  power  of  every  generation  of  living 
geniuses  which  leads  to  a  higher  state  of  culture  is  noth- 
ing else  than  that  original  power  which,  according  to  the 
indwelling  law  of  God,  can  freely  form  and  even  organize. 
A  generation  is  rich  in  power  and  influence  in  proportion 
as  it  possesses  such  original  vigor.  Therefore,  of  what 
immense  importance  is  a  method  which  can  awaken  and 
cultivate  original  creative  power ! " 

"  Are  all  men  to  be  made  geniuses  by  this  method  ? " 
said  Herr  von  Wydenbrugk,  with  an  incredulous  smile. 

"  Certainly  not,"  I  answered.  "  Genius  must  first  be 
born  before  it  can  be  educated  for  its  task.  There  will 
be  plenty  of  ballast.  The  method  proposes  only  to  in- 
crease the  sum  of  creative  power  so  far  as  it  is  according 
to  God's  will  the  task  of  each  generation,  and  as  is  sig- 
nificantly expressed  by  all  the  demands  of  the  present 
time.  In  the  mean  time,  not  the  remotest  pretension  is 
made  that  the  salvation  of  our  time  is  to  be  secured  by 


REMINISCENCES    OF   FROEBEL.  137 

this  educational  method  alone.  Much  must  be  done,  many 
things  must  concur,  in  order  that  this  slow  transition  in 
which  we  live  shall  give  way  to  a  new  and  better  time. 
But  one  of  the  means  for  this  end  is  the  new  education. 
We  shall  not  have  new  men  without  a  new  education. 
And  that  can  only  be  a  new  education  which  shall  free 
human  nature  from  the  crushing  fetters  of  a  perverted 
education,  and  shall  remedy  the  entire  want  of  a  true 
method  for  the  masses.  But  indeed  the  new  education 
can  only  reach  the  result  indicated  when  its  complete 
and  universal  application  shall  proceed  with  real  method ; 
and  we  are  as  yet  very  far  from  that  point.  The  dangers 
which  threaten  national  order  should  require,  it  seems 
to  me,  of  those  whose  duty  it  is  to  guard  it,  that  they 
support  with  all  their  powers  a  cause  which  strives  to 
oppose  the  bulwark  of  educational  influence  to  the  present 
perversion  and  demoralization,  and  smooth  the  path  for 
the  future  free  and  conscious  obedience  to  law,  and  thereby 
lead  at  the  same  time  to  the  highest  possible  degree  of 
freedom." 

"  If  national  support  were  so  easily  to  be  gained,  I 
think,"  said  Herr  von  Wydenbrugk,  "it  would  not  be 
found  wanting  in  us.  During  the  storm-flood  the  earth 
cannot  be  cultivated.  We  must  first  become  masters 
again  of  the  political  situation  before  we  can  take  in 
hand  such  necessary  improvements.  In  the  mean  time, 
little  as  I  deny  the  importance  of  a  national  education 
adapted  to  the  time,  and  well  as  I  see  the  advantages 
that  may  grow  out  of  Froebel's  method,  yet  I  cannot 
believe  so  confidently  as  you  do  in  the  success,  at  least 
in  the  immediate  success,  of  such  improvements,  which 
often  pour  but  a  drop  into  the  sea!  The  rough  masses,  — 


138          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

do  you  know  what  that  means? — there  is  the  Rubicon  in 
which  for  centuries  numberless  reforms  have  foundered." 

"  On  that  very  account,"  I  replied,  "  by  means  of  a 
better  and  more  general  education,  those  rough  masses 
must  vanish  out  of  society.  This  may  indeed  proceed 
slowly.  When  we  look  at  long  periods  of  time,  the  prog- 
ress of  humanity  and  its  culture  are  undeniable.  All 
higher  activity  that  reaches  beyond  the  span  of  a  life  or 
a  generation  would  cease  if  we  could  not  have  faith  in 
an  eternal  progressive  development  of  earthly  things. 
We  know  not  when  the  seed  we  sow  shall  ripen,  but  we 
must  sow  it  if  we  would  do  our  duty  to  posterity.  But 
every  one  who  sows  his  seed  must  leave  its  growth  to 
higher  powers." 

"That  we  will  do,"  said  Herr  von  Wydenbrugk,  "and 
enter  upon  the  work  as  soon  as  the  moment  has  come, 
and  there  is  rest  in  the  land ;  only  do  not  expect  too 
much,  and  do  not  forget  that  we  small  States  cannot  act 
quite  independently,  but  must  yield  in  everything  to  the 
Great  Powers.  Advise  Froebel  to  exercise  caution  in  the 
interest  of  his  cause,  in  regard  to  connections,  and  in 
the  choice  of  his  representatives.  There  seem  to  be  some 
among  them  who,  because  they  are  in  danger  themselves, 
endanger  his  work.  These  unripe  political  minds  bring 
upon  Froebel  the  reputation  of  adhering  to  the  destruc- 
tive tendencies  which  they  proclaim." 

"  I  thought,"  I  replied,  "  that  even  a  superficial  knowl- 
edge of  Froebel  and  his  teaching  might  have  protected 
him  from  such  a  suspicion.  The  motto  of  the  revolution 
is  overthrow,  while  Froebel's  motto  is  development,  —  de- 
velopment of  men  and  things.  And  the  means  by  which 
Froebel  would  strive  for  the  renewing  of  society  and  of 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          139 

the  state  are  just  the  opposite  of  those  of  the  revolu- 
tionary storm-birds,  who,  however,  as  well  as  real  re- 
formers, have  by  their  alarm-cry  undoubtedly  their  part 
to  fulfil  for  historical  progress. 

"  In  order  to  be  able  to  build  up  anew,  there  must 
always  be  destruction  and  removal  of  rubbish.  Among 
these  destroying  hordes  are  also  idealists  who  strive  for 
the  noble  and  the  good,  and  are  only  led  astray  in  regard 
to  their  means ;  but  all  idealists  and  minds  striving  for 
progress  and  reform  have  undeniably  their  points  of  con- 
tact, and  feel  sympathy  for  each  other,  however  far  their 
views  on  the  ways  and  means  of  reaching  their  goal  may 
differ.  These  sympathies  may  lead  Froebel  astray  in 
regard  to  persons ;  and  his  own  self-sacrificing  spirit 
exposes  him,  perhaps,  to  be  deceived  by  men  following 
only  the  impulse  of  self-seeking.  Caution  and  criticism 
are  not  his  affair ;  and  who  can  see  but  with  bleeding 
heart  how  the  noblest  and  best  must  fall  a  sacrifice  in 
political  strifes !  Froebel  feels  this  also,  but  he  has  never- 
theless separated  from  his  nephews,  who  formerly,  in  their 
youth,  shared  very  naturally  the  dominant  revolutionary 
views,  as  is  widely  known." 

"  These  sacrifices  to  politics  are  unfortunately  un- 
avoidable in  times  like  ours,"  said  the  minister,  "  how- 
ever much  many  individuals  may  claim  our  sympathy 
and  even  our  admiration.  Where  the  preservation  of  the 
state  and  order  are  involved,  the  law  can  make  no  dis- 
crimination nor  exercise  forbearance  in  reference  to  indi- 
viduals." * 

*  These  extracts  from  my  conversations  with  the  minister  Von  Wyden- 
brugk  are  given  here  especially  for  the  sake  of  contradicting  some  statement* 
which  were  made  afterwards  in  the  Froebel  circle,  as  if  the  minister  had 
failed  in  promises  given.  He  made  no  definite  promises  at  that  time. 


140  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

When  Froebel,  toward  the  evening  of  the  day  on  which 
this  conversation  passed,  came  into  Liebenstein,  and  I 
introduced  him  to  the  minister,  the  latter  took  up  anew 
our  last  conversation,  which  I  had  related  to  Froebel. 

Addressing  Froebel,  he  said  :  "  You  do  not,  then,  con- 
cur in  the  axiom  of  the  revolutionists,  which  is, '  Every 
one  is  born  free,  and  brings  the  right  of  personal  freedom 
into  the  world  with  him '  ? " 

"  No, "  said  Froebel,  "  not  in  their  sense.  Man,  on 
the  contrary,  is  born  entirely  fettered  on  all  sides,  and 
truly  for  this  reason,  that  he  can  and  must  obtain  free- 
dom only  by  his  own  striving.  Freedom  cannot  be  be- 
stowed upon  us  God  himself  cannot  bestow  it  upon 
us,  since  it  must  be  the  product  of  our  moral  and  intel- 
lectual unfettering,  which  it  is  possible  to  attain  only  by 
self-activity.  Every  individual  has  to  free  himself  from 
the  narrow  fetters  of  his  undeveloped  condition  of  child- 
hood by  the  help  of  educational  influences.  Nations, 
and  the  human  race  also,  which  in  the  course  of  ages, 
taking  its  departure  from  the  extreme  condition  of  slav- 
ery, has  risen,  step  by  step,  to  the  degree  of  freedom  that 
has  now  been  reached,  have  the  same  task.  As  soon  as 
we  apply  the  idea  of  organic  development  to  human  his- 
tory, we  recognize  clearly  and  significantly  that  every 
kind  of  real  freedom  is  the  result  of  culture,  which  ex- 
cludes as  contradictory  to  it  the  caprice  of  the  individual. 
But  this  culture  of  individuals  and  of  nations  cannot  be 
forced,  and  cannot  be  gained  at  a  blow.  It  is  the  result 
of  consecutive  development.  Hence  the  rude  masses 
can  never  be  free  ;  on  the  contrary,  it  is  they  who  hinder 
all  freedom,  even  for  those  who  possess  the  requisite 
degree  of  culture  for  it.  This  our  heroes  of  freedom  for- 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          141 

get  when  they  expect  universal  freedom  from  merely  out- 
ward national  and  political  changes  and  innovations. 
The  freedom  of  nations  depends  on  the  degree  of  culture 
of  the  majority  of  their  members,  and,  like  all  good 
things,  — like  man  himself,  —  is  at  once  the  work  of  na- 
ture, man,  and  God,  which  depends  not  on  the  arbitrari- 
ness of  individuals,  not  even  upon  the  greatest  posses- 
sors of  power.  The  human  race  needed  many  centuries, 
a  long  and  strong  school  of  experience,  before  it  was  ripe 
for  the  present  stage  of  development,  which  demands 
a  renewing  of  human  life  in  all  its  departments.  But  I 
people  misunderstand  the  call  of  the  time,  which  is  I  * 
'  unity  of  life,'  or  the  equilibrium  of  existing  contrasts 
in  the  human  world,  the  abrogation  of  the  two  great 
differences  in  culture,  the  elevation  of  those  unjustly 
oppressed  and  neglected." 

"  If  you  mean  that  diversities  in  human  society  are  to 
be  abolished,  a  levelling  and  equalizing  of  men  to  take 
place,  you  do  agree  with  the  innovators  and  their  ideas," 
said  the  minister,  interrupting  him. 

"  Certainly  I  do  not,"  rejoined  Froebel,  "  for  then  the 
manifoldness  of  human  relations  would  cease,  upon  which 
depend  all  unanimity  and  all  equilibrium  in  the  human 
world  as  well  as  in  God's  world,  — the  universe  in  which 
the  infinite  variety  is  the  means  of  order  and  harmony. 
This  variety  in  the  world  is  ordained  by  God  ;  it  is  the 
law  of  the  universe,  which  cannot  be  abolished  by  the 
caprice  of  individuals ;  it  is  the  united  work  of  nature, 
man,  and  God.  The  motto  of  the  revolution  cited  by  you 
ought  to  be,  '  All  have  a  claim  to  culture,  to  the  develop-  • 
ment  of  the  powers  and  dispositions  with  which  they  are 
endowed,  but  this  within  the  limits  which  his  earthly 


142          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

relations  point  out  to  each  one,  and  which  is  enjoined 
upon  the  whole  through  the  duty  of  individuals. 

"  But  there  are  two  classes  of  oppressed  people  who 
cannot  enjoy  the  proper  degree  of  culture  in  the  existing 
state  of  things,  and  to  whom  more  freedom  —  I  mean 
more  freedom  of  development  —  must  be  granted,  to 
make  it  possible  for  all  to  reach  a  higher  degree  of 
culture." 

"  And  they  are  ? "  said  Herr  von  Wydenbrugk. 

"  Women  and  children,"  answered  Froebel.  "  These 
are  the  most  'oppressed  and  neglected  of  all.  They 
have  not  yet  been  fully  recognized  in  their  dignity  as 
parts  of  human  society.  If  progress  and  a  greater  de- 
gree of  freedom  depend  largely  upon  the  degree  of  uni- 
versal culture,  then  it  is  woman,  to  whom  God  and  nature 
have  pointed  out  the  first  educational  office  in  the  family, 
upon  whom  this  progress  especially  depends.  And  if 
childhood  in  its  whole  importance,  in  its  lofty  dignity 
as  the  germ  of  mankind,  was  sufficiently  respected  and 
honored,  recognized  in  its  nature  and  its  claims  for  edu- 
cation, means  and  opportunities  would  be  offered  to  all 
classes  of  society  and  to  every  individual  to  develop 
their  God-given  powers  and  dispositions,  and  to  enable 
them  to  use  them  for  the  benefit  of  society  within  the 
limits  set  by  their  circumstances  and  talents. 

"  I  know  that  this  is  the  work  of  centuries.  The 
present  time  demands  that  the  foundation  be  laid  for  it 
by  an  education  corresponding  to  its  demands,  and 
worthy  of  human  dignity.  And  to  lay  this  foundation  is 
the  aim  of  my  kindergarten,  which  is  to  prevent  the  chil- 
dren of  the  masses  from  growing  up  like  little  savages, 
and  also  to  save  the  schools  from  a  lawlessness  which  is 
miscalled  liberty. 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          143 

"This  earliest  age  is  the  most 'important  one  for  edu-  : 
cation,  because  the  beginning  decides  the   manner  of  ; 
progress  and  the  end.     If  national  order  is  to  be  recog- 
nized in  later  years  as  a  benefit,  childhood  must  first  be 
accustomed  to  law  and  order,  and  therein  find  the  means 
of  freedom.     Lawlessness  and  caprice  must  rule  in  no 
period  of  life,  not  even  in  that  of  the  nursling. 

"The  kindergarten  life,  according  to  its  ideal,  is  a 
micrometric  human  life  in  the  past,  present,  and  future. 
Kindergartens  inherit  the  acquired  riches  of  inward  and 
outward  experiences,  and  the  knowledge  of  the  human 
race  of  all  times  in  its  collective  result ;  they  carry  man 
as  child  back  into  the  original  relations  to  the  family,  to 
nature,  and  to  himself,  in  order  to  fit  him  for  living  his 
life  both  in  and  out  of  himself  with  conscious  percep- 
tion ;  I  say  perception,  not  knowledge,  for  which  his  age 
is  yet  unsuitable.  Perception  is  the  beginning  and  the 
preliminary  condition  for  thinking.  (One's  own  percep-( 
tions  awaken  one's  own  conceptions,  and  these  awaken 
one's  own  thinking  in  later  stages  of  development}  Let 
us  have  no  precocity,  but  natural,  that  is  consecutive, 
organic  development. 

"This  process  of  going  through  all  the  stages  of 
development  that  the  human  race  has  traversed  from  the 
past  up  to  the  present  can  alone  lead  man  to  a  clear 
consciousness  of  himself  and  his  life,  as  is  demanded  by 
the  present  stage  of  knowledge.  From  this  the  knowl- 
edge will  be  gained  how  the  action  of  mankind,  indeed, 
of  the  smallest  child,  depends  upon  willing.  But  the 
will  is  determined  by  the  mind.  The  mind  is  the  think- 
ing power,  and  thinking  develops  according  to  laws. 
The  mind  works  only  according  to  the  laws  of  thinking, 


144         REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

and  the  laws  of  thinking  determine  the  intelligent  action 
of  man.  The  cultivated  action  of  thoroughly  cultivated 
men  depends,  then,  not  upon  arbitrary  will,  but  upon  laws 
as  sure  as  the  phenomena  in  the  life  of  nature.  As 
motion  in  the  universe  depends  upon  the  law  of  gravita- 
tion, so  human  life  depends  upon  the  law  of  the  '  unity 
of  life.'  The  laws  of  the  '  unity  of  life '  are  the  elevated 
laws  of  the  solar  systems,  consequently  those  of  the 
universe,  in  which  man  is  the  highest  blossom  and  fruit. 
Thus  the  laws  of  spiritual  development  need  to  be  com- 
prehended as  distinctly  as  the  laws  of  the  formation  of 
the  world. 

"  The  laws  of  the  universe  are  the  same  as  the  laws  of  hu* 
man  education.  Kindergartens  form  a  stage  of  develop- 
ment in  the  culture  of  man,  out  of  which  the  succeeding 
stages  will  follow  according  to  a  determined  law,  as  is 
the  case  in  organic  life.  Every  noble  friend  of  man 
should  help  to  make  the  first  stage  of  culture  such  as  to 
insure  the  right  conditions  for  the  following  stages,  —  let 
him  belong  to  what  party  he  may. 

"By  establishing  kindergartens  that  nearly  approach 
the  ideal,  men  would  learn  whether  or  not  it  is  a  work 
of  God,  and  would  see  what  practical,  all-sided,  and 
deeply  grounded  development,  as  a  creative  being,  man 
is  capable  of. 

"  My  object  now  is  to  bring  such  a  model  institution 
into  operation  at  Marienthal  as  will  at  the  same  time 
include  the  educating  of  kindergartners.  But  not  merely 
shall  women  learn  to  be  conductors  of  kindergartens, 
that  is,  to  understand  the  nature  of  children,  and  to  be 
able  to  take  care  of  and  to  educate  them,  physically  and 
spiritually,  but  the  whole  female  sex,  in  all  classes  and 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          145 

conditions  of  life,  shall  take  up  the  new  education  of 
man,  and  learn  to  apply  it,  as  God-appointed  nurses  and 
guardians  of  children.  If  the  female  sex,  as  a  whole, 
shall  be  made  capable  of  administering  this  holy  office 
as  the  present  general  stage  of  development  of  civilized 
humanity  requires,  then  it  will  itself  be  liberated  from  its 
own  ignorance  and  oppression.  For  this  office  involves 
all  culture  and  all  elevation  which  the  female  sex  needs 
in  order  to  show  to  the  other  half  of  humanity  the  place 
befitting  itself  in  the  community  and  in  humanity. 

"  Support  us  in  making  the  beginning  of  this  educa- 
tion, without  which  the  demands  of  the  present  time,  and 
still  less  those  of  the  future,  can  never  be  fulfilled,  and 
without  which  the  new  spring-time  which  will  open,  by 
God's  will,  will  be  arrested  in  its  opening.  What  must 
come,  according  to  eternal  laws  must  come,  and  cannot 
be  prevented  by  man's  work,  —  it  is  the  work  of  God 
and  nature ;  but  it  can  be  delayed  and  interrupted  by 
the  freedom  granted  to  man  when  caprice  rules  instead 
of  law." 

Herr  von  Wydenbrugk,  who  had  listened  with  evident 
attention  and  interest  to  Froebel's  exposition,  pressed  his 
hand  warmly,  and  promised  for  his  part  to  do  the  best  he 
could  for  the  support  of  the  work  as  soon  as  outward 
circumstances  would  permit ;  adding  that  "  too  extrava- 
gant bounds  should  not  be  given  to  this  possibility." 

None  of  us,  including  the  minister,  had  at  that  mo- 
ment even  a  distant  presentiment  of  what  the  next  year 
would  bring  to  our  holy  cause,  which  still  stood  so  incon- 
spicuous and  defenceless,  but  upheld  by  the  unshakable 
faith  of  its  immediate  representative,  who  knew  himself 
to  be  the  bearer  of  a  divine  idea. 


146          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

"  Our  cause  now  stands  firm,"  said  Froebel  one  day 
soon  after  the  visit  of  the  minister,  "  even  if  the  enemies 
of  all  popular  education  and  of  every  kind  of  advance 
should  come  out  against  it  ever  so  violently." 

"Yes,  I  think  so  too,"  I  replied;  "at  least,  with  re- 
spect to  the  introduction  of  the  kindergarten,  and  in 
general  the  external  and  practical  part  of  the  cause.  But 
the  idea  lying  at  the  foundation  is  understood  hardly  at 
all.  I  see  more  and  more  how  the  statement  of  it  in 
short  public  lectures  is  insufficient  to  create  the  right  un- 
derstanding, even  in  the  best  minds,  unless  earnest  study 
follows.  You  must  write  something  which  shall  state 
briefly  the  fundamental  idea  and  the  principles  of  method 
growing  out  of  it." 

"  Briefly !  "  repeated  Froebel ;  "  then  people  will  mis- 
understand me  more  than  they  already  do  in  my  '  Educa- 
tion of  Man,'  which  I  should  think  expresses  clearly  my 
fundamental  thoughts,  at  least.  The  generally  received 
ideas  upon  the  being  of  man  are  so  vague,  the  child's 
nature  in  its  first  springs  of  motive  and  in  its  expression 
is  so  little  understood,  that  but  very  little  can  be  done  by 
written  statements. 

"  See  how  the  votaries  of  different  philosophical  sys- 
tems quarrel  with  each  other,  without  being  able  to  make 
themselves  mutually  understood.  Not  the  word  alone, 
but,  above  all,  action  must  guarantee  the  truth  of  my 
cause.  At  present,  if  the  practical  results  of  the  kinder- 
gartens and  the  maternal  feeling  is  favorable,  then,  later, 
writings  will  appear  that  will  recognize  my  idea  in  all  its 
depth,  show  its  necessity  for  the  present  stage  of  human 
development,  and  put  it  in  its  right  place  in  the  new 
views  of  things  now  forming. 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.  147 

"  Yes,  even  should  my  idea  be  lost  for  the  want  of  a 
correct  understanding  of  it,  it  will  surely  awaken  anew  in 
some  other  mind,  since  it  is  a  need  of  the  time,  and  God 
sends  nothing  into  the  world  which  does  not  bring  forth 
its  fruit  in  due  season. 

"  Go  on  quietly.  Nothing  happens  without  God's  per- 
mission, and  however  much  men  may  interfere  with  the 
good  and  true  by  their  caprice  and  destructiveness, 
man's  work  cannot  prevail  against  the  work  of  God  and 
nature ;  either  of  the  latter  is  stronger  than  the  former. 
Men  can  interfere  obstructively  and  destructively  for  mo- 
ments only  with  what  is  ordained  by  God,  but  they  can 
never  really  prevent  it.  That  is  my  trust,  even  if  I  am 
neither  understood  nor  supported, — indeed,  even  if  I  am 
persecuted. 

"  Once,  in  a  moment  of  doubt  whether  I  should  have 
the  power  to  persevere  with  my  cause,  the  thought  came 
to  me  :  What  could  you  do  to  save  your  idea  if  you 
should  be  thrown  into  a  dark  dungeon  where  you  could 
not  write  or  express  yourself  in  any  way  ?  But  I  soon 
found  what  I  should  do  in  order  that  the  truth  of  which 
God  made  me  the  bearer  should  not  be  lost  even  to  the 
present  generation.  If  human  tongues  are  silenced,  the 
stones  will  speak,  in  order  to  testify  to  the  truth,  I 
thought  —  " 

Froebel  here  interrupted  himself  to  look  at  the  clock, 
which  pointed  to  the  beginning  of  the  hour  when  he  was 
accustomed  to  go  to  his  school  of  kindergartners,  and  he 
requested  me  to  go  with  him  and  take  part.  In  vain  I 
endeavored  afterwards  to  come  back  to  the  subject ;  the 
time  for  it  never  came.  How  much,  indeed,  has  remained 
unexplained,  which  would  have  made  me  understand 


148  REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

many  obscurities  in  his  views  and  ideas !  But  it  was  im- 
possible to  hold  him  for  a  long  time  to  one  train  of 
thought,  or  to  turn  him  from  his  thought  of  the  moment 
into  any  other  direction.  If  he  was  occupied  with  one 
subject  it  was  difficult  to  move  him  from  it  to  enter  upon 
any  other. 

The  increasing  number  of  visitors  to  Marienthal  who 
wished  to  understand  his  education  claimed  almost  en- 
tirely the  time  of  his  leisure  hours,  and  he  exhausted  his 
powers  by  statements  of  his  views  more  than  was  good 
for  his  health.  Besides,  the  plan  was  often  considered 
of  summoning  a  teachers'  convention  at  Liebenstein  for 
the  next  summer  (1851),  in  which  his  educational  princi- 
ples should  be  discussed.  A  great  domestic  festival  was 
also  in  view  for  the  spring,  —  Froebel's  nuptials  with 
Fraulein  Levin,  who  had  for  several  months  been  be- 
trothed to  him. 

Froebel  longed  for  a  real  family  life.  He  wished  his 
pupils  to  be  able  to  take  part  in  one,  according  to  his 
principle  that  the  education  of  girls  for  the  family  must 
take  place  in  the  family  circle. 

When  he  imparted  to  Diesterweg  and  myself  his  in- 
tention to  give  his  hand  to  Fraulein  Levin,  who  super- 
intended the  household  with  so  much  discretion  and 
conscientiousness,  and  was  already  such  a  motherly  friend 
and  teacher  to  his  pupils,  we  could  only  sympathize  with 
it,  and  rejoice  that  he  was  thus  secure  of  a  faithful  and 
tender  nurse  for  his  old  age.  His  vigor,  which  his  con- 
stant activity  still  insured  him,  made  the  thought  of  his 
second  marriage  appear  less  strange.  No  one  who  did 
not  know  it  could  believe  that  his  age  was  sixty-eight. 
The  youth  and  freshness  of  intellect,  which  were  so  re- 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  149 

markable  in  him,  prevented  one  from  thinking  of  his 
actual  age,  whose  infirmities  had  not  yet  appeared. 
Those  minds  which  live  only  for  the  service  of  mankind, 
and  have  a  universal  human  work  to  carry  out,  begin 
their  eternal  life  upon  earth. 

Froebel  possessed  in  an  extraordinary  degree  the  sense 
of  family  life,  —  domesticity,  —  which  he  hoped  to  ani- 
mate and  exalt  by  his  education.  The  communications 
he  had  made  to  me  at  times  concerning  his  profoundly 
honored  first  wife,  and  her  letters,  from  which  he  had 
often  read  to  me,  showed  how  he  had  striven  to  realize 
his  high  ideal  of  marriage  in  his  own  life. 


CHAPTER     XI. 

DR.  R.  BENFEY  AND  TEACHER  HERMANN  POSCHE. 

AMONG  the  visitors  to  Marienthal  in  the  summer  of* 
1850  were  Dr.  Rudolph  Benfey  and  Teacher  Her- 
mann Posche,  afterward  zealous  promoters  of  Froebel's 
cause,  both  of  whom  are  now  full  of  enthusiasm  for  his 
doctrine,  and  are  to  be  counted  in  the  small  number  of 
those  who  have  worked  for  it  from  free  conviction,  with- 
out personal  views,  and  with  enduring  zeal. 

The  comprehensive  learning  of  Dr.  Benfey  gave  much 
opportunity  for  conversation  on  themes  lying  apparently 
quite  far  from  our  circle  of  thought.  With  great  courtesy 
he  yielded  to  our  request  to  illustrate  in  short  discourses 
historical  epochs  and  personalities,  by  which  occasion 
was  afforded  almost  always  to  compare  Froebel's  views 
with  those  of  others,  and  particularly  with  the  pedagogic 


150         REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

views  of  Greek  antiquity,  especially  with  the  ideas  of 
Plato  on  the  education  of  children,  which  in  manifold 
ways  concurred  with  Froebel's. 

On  a  social  walk  to  Altenstein,  where  I  had  invited 
the  company  to  sup  at  the  little  inn  at  that  place,  some 
remarks  of  Dr.  Benfey's  upon  the  Greek  manner  of  view- 
ing things  were  fully  discussed  in  a  lively  manner  by 
Froebel. 

Upon  my  saying  how  history,  particularly  the  history 
of  culture,  demonstrated  the  uninterrupted  connection 
between  the  past  and  present;  the  consideration  of  which 
Froebel  always  pointed  out  to  us  as  one  of  the  most 
important  principles  of  education,  Froebel  said  :  "  In 
human  development,  unity  and  connection  show  them- 
selves everywhere ;  the  past,  present,  and  future  form  a 
chain  whose  links  are  joined  inseparably.  Human  his- 
tory shows  the  same  uninterrupted  development  as  the 
universe,  and  all  development  in  the  spiritual,  as  in  the 
material  world,  proceeds  according  to  the  same  law.  The 
height  of  culture  in  the  Greek  world  could  not  possibly 
have  been  reached  without  the  preceding  stages  of  devel- 
opment of  that  and  other  nations.  Beauty  of  body,  sup- 
pleness of  limb,  power  of  muscle,  and  gracefulness  of 
movement  in  the  Greek  were  the  result  of  the  physical 
exertions  and  exercises  of  their  forefathers,  and  the  in- 
heritance of  a  culture  measured  by  centuries.  But  the 
higher  development  always  has  the  task  of  influencing 
and  elevating  the  steps  of  culture  below  it. 

"  Thus  the  Greek,  afterward  the  Roman  culture  and 
civilization  have  acted  upon  other  uncultivated  races  and 
made  them  capable  of  higher  cultivation.  Indeed,  even 
at  the  present  time  that  cultivating  influence  is  indirectly 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          151 

at  work  on  ourselves,  as  well  as  directlythrough  the  clas- 
sical literature  of  the  time. 

"  As  the  life  of  the  human  race  moves  on  through  all 
epochs,  in  living  connection,  like  a  single  life,  so  the  life 
and  development  of  every  individual  proceeds  in  unin- 
te-rupted  connection. 

"  The  peculiar  character  whose  germ  even  the  nursling 
shows  to  him  who  contemplates  the  child's  nature  under- 
standingly  is  found  again  in  the  older  child,  still  further 
on  in  the  youth,  again  in  the  adult,  and  at  last  in  the  gray- 
beard.  No  one  stage  of  life  can  be  separated  from  the 
others.  So  each  generation  of  men  is  connected  with 
the  preceding,  and  at  the  same  time  determines  the  char- 
acter of  the  following. 

"  What  use  shall  we  now  make  of  this  fact  of  an  in- 
separable connection  of  all  things  and  all  times  for  the 
education  of  our  children  ? 

"  This  use  :  that  we  look  upon  them  and  treat  them  as 
individual  spiritual  beings,  and  then  that  we  teach  them 
to  perceive  things  in  this  connection." 

One  of  the  company  present  interrupted  Froebel  with 
the  question  :  "  How  is  this  practicable  in  the  first  years 
of  life  ?  The  child  may  be  treated  in  this  manner  by 
the  grown-up  educators,  but  how  to  effect  the  object  of 
making  the  child  perceive  things  in  their  connection  is 
inconceivable  to  me." 

Froebel  replied  :  "Every  child  brings  with  him  into  the 
world  the  natural  disposition  to  see  correctly  what  is 
before  him,  or,  in  other  words,  the  truth.  If  things  are 
shown  to  him  in  their  connection,  his  soul  perceives  them 
thus,  as  a  conception.  But  if,  as  often  happens,  things 
are  brought  before  his  mind  singly,  or  piecemeal  and  in 


152          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

fragments,  then  the  natural  disposition  to  see  correctly  is 
perverted  to  the  opposite,  and  the  healthy  mind  is  per- 
plexed. 

"  How  one  shall  begin  practically  to  make  for  the  child 
the  first  representation  of  things  in  their  constant  con- 
nection, in  a  correct  and  clear  manner,  I  have  shown 
plainly  in  my  '  Mother  and  Cosset  Songs,'  and  still  fur- 
ther in  my  play-gifts. 

"  Look  upon  these  last ;  how  they  proceed  from  the 
ball  as  a  symbol  of  unity,  and  then  pass  over  from  this 
in  a  consecutive  manner  to  the  manifoldness  of  form  in 
the  cube ;  how  the  cube  is  then  divided  according  to  the 
law  of  the  connection  of  opposites ;  how  each  succeed- 
ing form  (in  the  play)  goes  forth  from  the  preceding,  and 
how  not  only  the  connection  according  to  a  law  of  all  the 
parts  of  the  play-material  exhibits  clearly  the  union  into 
one  whole,  but  the  child  perceives  through  his  own 
action  that  he  only  obtains  his  building  (or  other  figures) 
when  he  unites  into  a  whole,  in  a  regular  and  lawful  man- 
Aier,  the  parts  which  he  is  handling.  In  such  ways  he  is 
/  to  perceive  that  all  connection  implies  opposites  which 
•'  can  be  joined  together,  and  again  that  no  opposites  are 
to  be  seen  in  the  properties  of  things  which  cannot  be 
connected. 

"  The  linking  together  that  is  everywhere  found,  and 
which  holds  the  universe  in  its  wholeness  and  unity,  the 
eye  receives,  and  thereby  receives  the  representation,  but 
without  understanding  it,  except  as  an  impression  and  an 
image ;  but  these  first  impressions  are  the  root  fibres  for 
the  understanding  that  is  developed  later.  The  correct 
perception  is  a  preparation  for  correct  knowing  and  think- 
ing. What  the  child  perceives  by  the  material  and  by  the 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  153 

handling  of  it  must  be  and  is  supported  by  the  plays  and 
songs  of  the  'mother' book,  because  what  the  child  is 
pleasantly  occupied  with,  and  gives  its  whole  attention 
to,  leads  to  the  proximate  cause  of  the  effect  perceived, 
and  this  leads  later  to  recognition  of  the  ultimate  cause,  — 
God. 

"  This  seems  to  us  impossible  and  strange  only  so  long 
as  we  do  not  know  the  how,  which  is  perfectly  simple,  like 
all  truth. 

"Look  now  at  the  book,  and  you  will  learn  to  know  the 
how.  For  example,  when  the  child  drinks  his  milk,  what 
is  more  natural  than  to  show  him  the  cow  or  point  to  its 
picture,  then  to  the  cow's  food,  the  grass,  whose  growth 
does  not  depend  upon  man,  and  so  gradually  come  to  the 
invisible  Creator  of  visible  things  ? 

"  Another  example  shows  in  picture,  in  word,  and  in 
reality  the  bread  which  serves  for  the  child's  nourishment, 
from  the  grain  to  the  flour,  till  it  leads  back  to  its  source. 
Thus  we  put  the  sequence  together  for  the  child  in  a 
childlike  manner,  so  as  to  be  easily  apprehended  by  him. 

"Does  any  other  connection  rule  in  philosophical 
deduction  than  this  which  I  call  the  child  to  perceive 
when  I  play  with  him  at  bread-baking  [pat-a-cake]  ?  The 
logic  is  and  remains  a  consecutive  thinking  and  conclu- 
sion, whether  applied  to  the  things  themselves  or  to  the 
abstract  conceptions  of  things." 

"  That  is  perfectly  evident,"  I  answered ;  "  the  child 
before  whose  eyes  sensible  objects  are  brought,  in  the 
correct  order  of  parts  to  the  whole,  and  in  the  logical 
connection  of  things,  will,  when  reflective  power  is  de- 
veloped, perceive  this  order  and  logical  connection  clearly 
and  definitely  in  the  intellectual  world  also,  and  be  con- 


154          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

strained  in  a  measure  to  refer  back  the  visible  objects  to 
their  invisible  causes,  to  the  ultimate  cause  of  all 'phe- 
nomena. It  is  just  as  evident  that  no  order  and  no  con- 
nection can  exist  without  a  rule  or  a  determining  law  at 
the  foundation,  and  it  is  impossible  that  there  should  be 
two  different  laws  of  logic  in  the  world  of  sense  and  in 
the  world  of  mind,  since  both  are  inseparably  connected. 

"  The  thought  that  forms  anything  whatever  can  per- 
fect it  strictly  only  according  to  the  law  of  its  thinking 
(logic),  and  therefore  all  harmony  between  the  material 
formation  in  the  conception  of  the  mind  and  in  the  repre- 
sentation rests  upon  law,  and,  indeed,  it  must  be  one  and 
the  same  law.  That  is  as  clear  as  the  sun. 

"  You  have  recognized  the  law  of  harmony  or  equilib- 
rium which  rules  in  the  universe,  and  you  have  made  it 
the  regulator  of  the  child's  action.  Therein  lies  the  sig- 
nificance of  your  method.  Its  practical  exercises  spring 
out  of  this  idea,  and  are  only  important  so  far  as  they 
bring  the  law  lying  at  the  foundation  into  application. 
When  only  used  mechanically  they  are  nothing  but  tech- 
nical exercises.  But  how  difficult  it  is  to  make  this  gen- 
erally apprehended ! " 

Froebel  thought  that  would  be  effected  hereafter  through 
the  pupils  who  were  growing  up  from  the  kindergarten. 
He  went  on  with  his  explanations. 

"  Every  age  of  life  has  its  own  peculiar  claims  and 
needs  in  respect  of  nurture  and  educational  assistance, 
appropriate  to  it  alone  ;  what  is  lost  to  the  nursling  can- 
not be  made  good  in  later  childhood,  and  so  on.  The 
child,  and  afterward  the  youth,  have  other  needs  and 
make  other  demands  than  the  nursling,  which  must  be 
met  at  their  proper  ages,  not  earlier,  not  later.  Losses 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          155 

which  have  taken  place  in  the  first  stage  of  life,  in  which 
the  heart-leaves — the  germ-leaves  of  the  whole  being — 
unfold,  are  never  made  up.  If  I  pierce  the  young  leaf 
of  the  shoot  of  a  plant  with  the  finest  needle,  the  prick 
forms  a  knot  which  grows  with  the  Jeaf.  becomes  harder 
and  harder,  and  prevents  it  from  obtaining  its  perfectly 
complete  form.  Something  similar  takes  place  after 
wounds  which  touch  the  tender  germ  of  the  human  soul 
and  injure  the  heart-leaves  of  its  being. 

"Therefore  you,"  here  Froebel  turned  to  his  pupils, 
"  must  keep  holy  the  being  of  the  child  ;  protect  it  from 
every  rough  and  rude  impression,  from  every  touch  of 
the  vulgar.  A  gesture,  a  look,  a  sound,  is  often  sufficient 
to  inflect  such  wounds.  The  child's  soul  is  more  tender 
and  vulnerable  than  the  finest  or  tenderest  plant.  It 
would  have  been  far  different  with  humanity,  if  every 
individual  in  it  had  been  protected  in  that  tenderest  age 
as  befitted  the  human  soul  which  holds  within  itself  the 
divine  spark. 

"  The  first  impressions  which  a  young  child  receives 
are  stronger  and  "more  lasting  than  those  in  later  life, 
because  that  power  of  resistance  is  then  wanting  which 
its  later  consciousness  brings.  As  the  thriving  of  the 
child's  body  depends  in  a  great  measure  upon  its  breath- 
ing pure  air,  so  the  purity  and  morality  of  the  soul  de- 
pend partly  on  the  impressions  which  the  nursling  and 
child  receive.  The  careful  nursing  of  the  inner  spiritual 
life  must  begin  much  earlier  than  the  expression  of  it  is 
possible,  before  its  tender  susceptibility  is  disturbed  by 
outward  influences.  This  tender  susceptibility  requires 
a  tender  handling,  or  it  is  in  a  certain  sense  choked,  as 
if  I  should  cover  the  growing  roots  of  this  little  plant  I 


156          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

have  here  with  sand.  No  development  can  be  forced,  — 
not  in  nature,  still  less  in  the  human  mind.  With  right 
care,  everything  blossoms  in  its  own  time.  If  I  forcibly 
tear  open  this  poppy-bud,  its  fine  folded  leaves  may  be 
seen,  but  the  flower, will  not  unfold;  it  withers  within. 
In  the  same  manner  many  a  child's  soul,  artificially  and 
violently  broken  into,  will  wither  within,  be  despoiled,  and 
at  least  not  bear  the  fruit  it  was  destined  to  bring  forth. 

"  Now,  what  can  we  do  for  the  unfolding  of  these  heart- 
leaves  of  the  life,  which  contain  the  whole  future  man, 
with  all  his  finest  tendencies  ? 

"  We  must  launch  the  child  from  its  birth  into  the  free 
and  all-sided  use  of  its  powers.  That  is  just  the  aim  of 
these  plays  and  occupations  which  exercise  the  yet  un- 
seen powers  of  the  nursling  on  every  side.  But  we  must 
not,  as  is  often  erroneously  done,  take  care  only  of  the 
bodily  powers  by  exercising  merely  the  senses  and  limbs, 
and  then  later,  when  the  school-period  arrives,  make  the 
intellectual  powers  alone  act;  but  steadily,  and  during 
the  whole  era  of  childhood,  body  and  mind  should  be 
exercised  and  cultivated  together.  The  mind  develops 
itself  in  and  with  the  organs  that  are  inseparably  con- 
nected with  it  in  the  earthly  life.  Child's  play  strengthens 
the  powers  both  of  the  soul  and  the  body,  provided  we 
know  how  to  make  the  first  self-occupation  of  a  child  a 
freely  active,  that  is,  a  creative  or  a  productive  one. 

"  The  will  is  strengthened  only  by  voluntary  activity. 
By  striving  to  create  and  produce  the  beautiful  and  good, 
the  feelings  are  developed,  and  by  all  lawful,  thoughtful, 
free  activity  the  mind  is  cultivated.  But  such  activity 
sets  aside  all  extraneous  education,  and  that  outside  in- 
doctrinating that  is  not  in  unison  either  with  the  nature 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  157 

of  the  child  or  with  his  actual  state  of  development ; 
and  it  puts  self-education  and  self-indoctrinating  in  their 
place. 

"  In  our  public  instruction  we  generally  begin  with  the 
abstract,  with  which  we  should  close.  This  is  in  the 
highest  degree  ruinous,  particularly  for  the  mass  of  the 
people,  whose  task  in  their  later  life  is  work  that  should 
be  productive. 

"  The  first  educational  task  is  to  make  the  child  ac- 
quainted with  the  things  of  the  material  world,  which 
constitute  the  basis  of  the  abstract.  Knowledge  of  ma- 
terial things  can  only  be  had  by  handling  them,  and  the 
formation  and  transformation  of  material  is  therefore  the 
best  mode  of  gaining  this  knowledge  for  childhood. 

"  My  plays  and  occupations  show  the  possibility  of 
doing  this.  Even  if  I  have  brought  no  new  thoughts  to 
the  subject,  as  some  will  maintain,  even  if  the  goal  and 
aim  of  this  education  has  long  been  known,  I  have  given 
something  new  in  my  childish  plays,  for  they  show  how 
we  must  begin  to  give  activity  to  the  powers  of  childhood, 
in  order  that  they  shall  neither  rust  and  be  lost  for  want 
of  use,  nor  overstrained  by  too  early  study,  the  capacity 
of  which  at  that  age  is  still  wanting. 

"When  we  ask  for  artistic  industry,  that  our  dignity 
may  not  be  lost  by  the  substitution  of  machine-work,  we 
find  stiff  and  awkward  fingers  ;  we  ask  for  a  sense  of 
beautiful  form,  harmony  of  colors,  etc.,  in  the  workman, 
and  find  only  dull  eyes  and  senses,  which  cannot  tell  the 
crooked  from  the  straight,  and  know  not  how  to  put  light 
and  shadow  in  the  right  places.  Indeed,  when  profes- 
sional and  art  schools  are  opened  for  grown-up  youth 
only,  they  cannot  repair  what  was  lost  in  childhood,  let 
ever  so  much  teaching  be  furnished. 


158  REMINISCENCES  OF   FROEBEL. 

"  Technical  skill  must  be  given  in  early  childhood  if 
the  human  hand  is  not  to  be  outdone  by  the  machine, 
and  the  sense  of  beauty  must  be  awakened  in  the  soul 
in  childhood  if  in  later  life  he  is  to  create  the  beautiful. 

"But  the  life  of  the  unconscious  being  —  reason  and 
the  principle  of  law  which  govern  in  it,  and  express  them- 
selves in  childish  action  —  is  not  yet  recognized,  and 
on  that  account  it  is  thought  we  must  wait  for  a  higher 
degree  of  consciousness  before  we  point  out  their  aim  to 
the  blindly  groping  powers,  and  furnish  them  the  means 
of  reaching  it,  else  the  unconscious  action  which  instinc- 
tively and  correctly  feels  its  aim  will  be  turned  aside 
from  it  and  peremptorily  forced  into  other  paths.  It  is 
not  seen  that  reason  is  on  the  side  of  unconsciousness, 
and  the  want  of  reason  on  the  side  of  consciousness,  but 
we  must  discriminate  between  what  is  legitimate  and  what 
is  arbitrary  in  that  instinct  in  which  God  rules  with  iron 
necessity.  Nature  is  God's  work,  not  God  himself,  who 
rules  it  but  never  violates  its  laws  which  he  himself  es- 
tablished. 

"  Even  in  the  child  nature  does  not  allow  itself  to  be 
forced,  but  only  checked  or  disturbed.  Therefore  edu- 
cation must  follow  nature  gently  and  protectingly,  not 
forcibly  or  violently.  .  Education  smooths  the  way  and 
creates  the  material  which  serves  the  forming  instinct ; 
protects  and  leads  the  feeble  powers,  and  offers  to  the 
investigating  senses  the  types  of  the  beautiful,  the  good, 
and  the  true  ;  then  the  bud  of  being  will  unfold  as  surely 
as  the  bud  of  the  tree,  to  bring  forth  its  fruit.  It  is  true 
that  many  a  young  bud  conceals  the  worm  that  destroys 
it,  and  in  spite  of  every  care  makes  the  fruit  fall  off  be- 
fore the  time,  or  allows  ^vil  fruit  to  ripen,  but  that  is  not 


REMINISCENCES    OF    FROEBEL.  I  $9 

the  rule.  An  education  true  to  nature  conquers  many  a 
bad  tendency,  removes  the  mildew  from  many  a  flower, 
and  brings  to  shame  the  worm  that  is  gnawing  upon  it. 

"  Do  you  know  how  you  can  awaken  the  divine  spark 
in  your  child  ?  Let  him  behold  the  beautiful  in  form  and 
color,  in  tone  and  gesture,  whenever  the  spiritual  element 
in  him  threatens  to  sink  away  in  the  satisfaction  of  bodily 
wants,  or  desires  threaten  to  draw  him  into  the  animal 
sphere.  Then  awaken  in  him  the  impulse  of  activity, 
and  exercise  it  to  a  degree  of  effort  which  will  steel  the 
will,  even  in  the  nursling,  while  he  is  playing  with  his 
limbs,  exercising  his  lisping  organs  of  speech,  and  while 
his  ear  is  taking  the  cradle-song  into  his  soul. 

"  Only  by  the  mediation  of  the  agreeable  do  the 
germs  of  the  spiritual  awake  in  the  child.  He  must  be 
knit  to  what  is  pleasant,  and  that  in  his  own  action  ;  he 
must  be  gained  over  through  his  own  effort ;  this  will  not 
satisfy  coarse  wants,  but  will  awaken  that  slumbering 
ideal  which  waits  for  the  incentive  from  without  to  burst 
forth.  But  the  sense  of  the  ideal  dwells  in  every  child's 
soul;  even  if  not  in  equal  strength  in  all.  If  it  were  not 
so,  human  life  would  never  be  enlightened  by  rays  of  the 
ideal.  Nothing  can  come  forth  from  the  conscious  hu- 
man being  that  did  not  lie  germinating  in  the  unconscious 
soul  of  the  child. 

"  From  unity — God — everything  goes  out  unconscious 
to  return  back  conscious.  In  consciousness  ripens  per- 
sonality (relative  in  man,  absolute  in  God),  which  is  eter- 
nal in  its  particularity  and  peculiarity,  —  one  note  in  the 
great  harmony  of  the  universe,  never  passing  away,  con- 
tinuing into  infinity. 

"The  stage  of  personal  consciousness  once  reached 


l6o          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

can  never  retrograde,  even  as  nothing  that  has  once  been 
done  can  be  undone ;  no  personal  consciousness  can  pass 
away,  it  is  eternal ;  no  grain  of  sand  can  perish,  it  can 
only  enter  into  new  connections,  be  transformed  as  every- 
thing^else  is;  for  everything  must  go  on  developing, — 
that  is  the  universal  law." 

Thus  Froebel  often  talked  at  length  upon  his  personal 
views,  and  forgot  the  time  it  occupied,  and  even  the  per- 
sons to  whom  he  was  speaking.  Those  who  listened  to 
him  were  often  obliged  to  supplement  his  aphoristic  pre- 
cepts, in  order  to  hold  fast  the  logical  thread  which  was 
apparently  often  broken. 

The  thought  of  the  "  unison  "  between  nature  and  man 
as  sprung  from  one  and  the  same  Creator  always  reap- 
peared in  various  forms  and  relations.  The  unity  of  man 
with  nature  must  be  recognized.  This  has  hitherto  been 
prevented  by  the  separation  in  the  human  soul  brought 
to  consciousness  through  guilt  and  sin.  Froebel  saw  fully 
expressed  in  Christianity  the  recognition  of  the  unity  of 
humanity  with  God  (as  the  child  of  God).  As  he  has 
said  in  one  of  his  essays :  "  The  Christian  religion  en- 
tirely completes  the  mutual  relation  between  God  and 
man  ;  all  education  which  is  not  founded  on  the  Christian 
religion  is  one-sided,  defective,  and  fruitless." 

But  the  knowledge  of  the  method  of  that  union  and 
unity  with  nature,  to  which  the  present  stage  of  human 
development  is  leading,  is  still  wanting.  This  would 
bring  about  a  deeper  understanding  of  the  eternal  truths 
of  Christianity  which  has  been  lost  up  to  the  present 
time  by  empty  word-teaching,  without  awakening  religious 
feeling  and  man's  inborn  sense  of  truth.  The  recogni- 
tion of  truth  begins  in  the  real,  visible  world  in  the  phe- 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  1 6 1 

nomena  of  nature,  in  which  the  laws  of  God  are  to  be 
found,  learned,  and  known  as  unchanged  and  unchange- 
able. This  knowledge  forms  the  firm  foundation  and 
underpinning  for  the  recognition  of  supersensuous  truths 
which,  speaking  from  all  things,  are  by  the  sense  of  anal- 
ogy bound  up  with  the  visible,  material  world  of  God,  in 
which  all  and  every  development  proceeds,  from  the  low- 
est to  the  highest,  from  the  least  to  the  greatest.  The 
unity  of  the  human  mind  with  the  Divine  mind  shall  find 
its  confirmation  through  the  easily  acquired  knowledge 
of  God's  mind  (Reason)  in  creation  and  the  sensuous 
world,  and  the  life  of  man  in  it  must  be  immediately  knit 
with  the  supersensuous  spiritual  world,  in  order  to  abol- 
ish the  separation  between  these  two  poles  of  human 
knowledge  and  human  life,  and  bridge  over  the  abyss 
which  is  created  by  a  too  far-reaching  dualism. 

But  Froebel  was  far  from  wishing  to  abolish  the  dis- 
tinction which  separates  the  sensuous  and  spiritual  world, 
and  gives  to  dualism  its  partial  justification.  And  he 
was  still  more  distant  from  the  coarse  or  the  refined 
materialistic  theories  at  present  in  vogue,  which  deny 
everything  spiritual  in  order  to  lift  unconscious  matter  to 
the  throne  and  make  all  spirit  subject  to  it.  The  idea 
of  the  unity  of  life,  in  his  sense,  is  a  much  more  com- 
plete contradiction  of  materialism,  and  better  fitted  to 
abolish  that  error  than  anything  else,  and  to  lead  us  into 
the  right  path  for  the  further  advancement  of  the  idea  of 
the  accordance  between  the  laws  of  nature  and  those  of 
the  mind. 

Froebel  now  stayed  the  stream  of  his  speech,  which 
had  been  poured  forth  with  a  certain  youthful  ardor ;  for 
it  was  growing  dark,  and  the  coolness  of  the  autumnal 


162          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

evening  warned  us  to  go  in  and  take  the  supper  which 
was  ready. 

After  the  most  earnest  disquisition,  Froebel  was  wont 
to  change  with  perfect  ease  into  a  gay  and  cheerful  mood, 
but  I  had  hardly  ever  seen  him  so  childlike  and  animated 
as  on  that  evening  at  our  simple  omelette  supper.  He 
was  full  of  jokes  with  his  pupils,  bantering  Fraulein  Levin 
with  doubts  of  her  power  to  make  omelettes  equal  to 
those,  and  disputing  with  Herr  Benfey  on  the  events  of 
the  time,  which  they  did  not  view  quite  alike.  At  last 
he  said  to  me  that  I  ought  to  arrange  such  suppers  more 
frequently. 

On  our  way  home,  I  put  to  him  the  question,  whether 
he  was  not  of  the  opinion  that  by  and  by,  after  the 
fullest  introduction  and  application  of  his  method  of 
education,  every  one  of  those  so  educated  would  be  able 
to  think  philosophically,  because  independently ;  since 
ideas  indwelling  in  things  and  going  forth  from  them 
with  the  conceptions  thereby  conditioned  would  gradu- 
ally come  to  be  understood,  adding,  "  It  appears  to  me 
that  through  this  connection  of  the  intellectual  and  con- 
crete worlds  there  must  be  given  a  concrete  founda- 
tion to  the  philosophical  systems  resting  upon  abstrac- 
tions, which  the  least  thinking  power  would  suffice  to 
understand." 

Froebel  smiled,  agreeably  surprised  by  these  supposi- 
tions, and  said :  "  A  correct  and  sound  perception  of 
things,  even  a  certain  degree  of  capacity  to  form  concep- 
tions proceeding  from  them,  must  undoubtedly,  in  the 
course  of  time,  lead  to  a  natural  and  completely  satis- 
factory education  of  the  human  being,  notwithstanding 
the  differences  that  will  exist  in  the  gift  of  recognizing 
the  supersensuous  and  intellectual. 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          163 

"As  the  true  poet  must  be  born,  so  must  the  true 
philosopher.  But  it  is  my  deepest  conviction  that  the 
time  must  come  when  the  chasm  between  things  and 
the  more  or  less  abstract  conception  of  things  will  be 
filled  up.  You  are  right  in  saying  that  hitherto  phi- 
losophy has  been  without  the  true  foundation  which 
natural  science  alone  can  afford  it.  It  is  just  this  foun- 
dation which  my  method  of  education  is  to  supply.  The 
understanding  of  the  unconscious  is  the  germ  and  begin- 
ning of  the  conscious,  and  so  surely  as  they  stand  in 
connection  with  each  other,  so  surely  the  one  as  well  as 
the  other  has  its  origin  in  unity,  —  God. 

"  How  does  all  the  world's  wisdom  help  us,  so  long 
as  it  remains  only  a  thought  in  the  mind,  and  is  not 
LIVED  OUT,  and  does  not  pass  over  into  the  human 
world?  Every  one  must  act,  therefore  there  must  be 
a  universal  wisdom  comprehensible  by  all,  and  every  one 
must  learn  its  application  (that  is,  be  practised  in  it)  from 
childhood  up.  This  wisdom  is  contained  in  Christianity, 
—  in  pure  Christianity  ;  but  it  is  buried  deep  for  most 
men.  Men  learn  to  teach  it  indeed,  but  only  in  words, 
which  least  of  all  things  lead  to  actual  understanding. 

"  But  whatever  is  to  be  applied  in  actual  life  must  be 
understood,  while  everything  else  belongs  only  to  the 
domain  of  belief.  Acting  and  producing,  moreover,  can- 
not be  taught  by  words  alone  ;  they  require  practical 
exercise  from  the  beginning. 

"  We  wish  to  create  for  children  a  practical  school  in 
which  they  shall  learn  to  act  according  to  the  descrip- 
tions of  pure  Christianity,  that  is,  according  to  the  com- 
mands of  God,  before  they  learn  these  prescriptions  and 
commands  as  dogmas.  Such  exercise  in  doing  will  bring 


164          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

them  that  experience  which  Jesus  required,  when  he  said, 
'  If  any  man  will  do  his  will  he  shall  know  of  the  doc- 
trine, whether  it  be  of  God,  or  whether  I  speak  of  myself.' 
"  And  when  the  stones  speak,  and  nature  confirms  the 
written  revelation  by  its  laws,  who  will  then  be  able  to 
doubt  its  truth  ?  Religion  is  union  with  God,  and  man 
can  be  united  with  God  only  by  seeing,  believing,  and 
acting  with  God,  and  not  by  either  one  of  these  three 
things  alone.  Expressions  of  this  truth  are  not  wanting 
in  Holy  Writ.  But  we  only  take  note  of  that  which 
theology  has  taken  out  for  its  most  important  dogmas. 
We  have  not  yet  come  nearly  to  the  full  understanding 
of  the  Holy  Writ ;  its  truths  always  require  new  vouch- 
ers ;  ever  new  and  deeper  recognition  on  other  sides, 
in  order  to  be  placed  in  their  right  light.  Jesus  himself 
by  many  of  his  expressions  has  pointed  out  that  the 
human  mind  is  to  rise  to  ever  higher  knowledge  of 
Divine  things ;  that  under  God's  leading  it  shall  go  on 
from  faith  to  sight.  Hence  the  expression,  'I  cannot 
tell  you  all  things  now,'  said  Jesus,  '  but  the  Comforter 
will  come,  who  will  lead  you  to  all  truth,'  etc." 

Whoever  doubts  Froebel's  deep  understanding  of  the 
Bible  and  the  Christian  idea,  should  see  a  Bible  which 
he  possessed  from  childhood,  whose  leaves  are  worn 
quite  thin  by  constant  use,  and  all  whose  margins  are 
written  over  with  remarks  testifying  to  his  earnestness 
and  deep  spirit  of  inquiry.  Some  communications  which 
he  made  to  me  from  these  commentaries,  and  his  partial 
inspection  of  manuscripts  in  which  my  own  religious 
views  were  expressed,  gave  many  occasions  for  discus- 
sion of  his  religious  opinions.  But  time  was  wanting  to 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  165 

return  often  to  this  subject,  and  I  was  obliged  on  this,  as 
on  other  points,  to  fill  many  a  gap  by  later  study  of  his 
writings. 

At  that  time  I  could  not  possibly  have  given  the  above 
resumb  of  his  clearly  expressed  views  of  the  spirit  and 
the  reason  in  the  unconscious,  for  which  he  sought  types 
and  symbols  in  the  concrete  world,  in  order  thereby  to 
awaken  and  enlighten  the  unconscious  mind  of  child- 
hood. 

In  spite  of  Froebel's  defective  mode  of  expression, 
and  the  frequently  aphoristic  way  in  which  he  suggested 
his  views,  the  present  investigators  of  the  conscious 
might  reach  many  an  explanation  through  his  idea,  and 
would  arrive  at  other  and  more  satisfactory  results  than 
have  heretofore  been  brought  to  light  by  that  "philosophy 
of  the  unconscious"  which  heats  the  heads  of  to-day. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

DR.   WICHARD  LANGE. 

TO  my  question  who  among  his  scholars  he  considered 
the  best  able  to  illustrate  and  work  out  the  philo- 
sophical and  psychological  side  of  his  teaching,  he  answered 
that  Dr.  Wichard  Lange  (just  at  that  time  betrothed  toMid- 
dendorff's  daughter)  would  certainly  be  capable  of  it,  if 
he  would  give  himself  wholly  up  to  the  subject,  but  that 
unfortunately  he  had  already  decided  on  another  direc- 
tion for  his  practical  activity,  and  wished  to  continue  in 
the  school  department  of  education,  so  that  he  would  be 


l66  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

prevented  from  giving  all  his  time  and  powers  to  this 
cause,  as  would  be  indispensable  to  his  success. 

I  saw,  however,  that  he  did  not  give  up  all  hope  of 
making  Dr.  Lange  favorable  to  his  wish,  which  was  that 
he  should  instruct  kindergartners  and  other  teachers  in 
the  method,  and  subsequently  spread  it  by  his  word  and 
pen.  He  hoped  that  a  proposed  visit  of  Dr.  Lange  to 
Liebenstein  would  lead  to  a  decision.  This  visit  took 
place  later,  but  without  leading  to  the  hoped-for  result. 

When  I  went  to-  Marienthal  one  stormy  autumnal 
evening,  I  was  told  that  Dr.  Lange  had  arrived.  After 
all  that  Froebel  as  well  as  Diesterweg  —  whose  favorite 
pupil  Lange  was  —  had  said  to  me  in  praise  of  him,  I  was 
desirous  of  a  personal  acquaintance.  When,  on  entering, 
I  heard  loud  and  eager  talking  in  Froebel's  apartment, 
I  waited  in  the  adjoining  lecture-room,  in  order  not 
to  interrupt  the  conversation.  They  soon  came  out  to 
greet  me,  however. 

At  that  time  Lange's  whole  manner  expressed  the 
same  energetic  character  which  he  afterward  showed 
in  his  action ;  and  no  less  did  his  remarkable  thinking 
power  and  great  natural  gifts  appear  on  his  high,  broad 
brow.  His  open,  free,  natural  character  infused  trust 
and  sympathy  immediately;  and,  therefore,  I  regretted 
the  more  not  having  opportunity  at  once  for  the  more 
intimate  exchange  of  thought  which  I  have  enjoyed  in 
later  years. 

The  contests  that  occurred  between  him  and  Froebel, 
in  consequence  of  the  demand  of  the  latter  that  Lange 
should  devote  himself  entirely  to  the  cause,  and  give  up 
the  school  career  that  he  had  chosen,  took  away  time  and 
disposition  for  sympathetic  conversation. 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          167 

Lange's  refusal,  supported  by  sufficient  and  intelligible 
reasons,  to  comply  with  Froebel's  demand  to  give  up  the 
career  he  had  already  chosen,  with  all  its  consequences, 
threw  Froebel  into  great  excitement,  for  he  wished  to 
win  in  Lange  a  prominent  advocate  of  his  idea. 

Lange,  on  the  contrary,  felt  his  inner  calling  to  be  a 
schoolman,  for  which  he  had  been  inspired  by  Diester- 
weg,  of  whom  he  strikingly  reminded  me  in  his  whole 
nature.  He  was  of  the  opinion  that  the  practice  of  the 
Froebelian  method  must  in  the  first  place  be  advocated 
and  organized  by  women,  before  men  should  interpose 
with  their  help,  and  before  the  method,  as  such,  should 
be  taken  in  hand  by  men  of  science.  To  the  instruction 
of  the  female  sex,  which  was  desired  from  him,  he  felt 
neither  inclination  nor  calling ;  he  wished  to  go  his  own 
way  independently,  especially  not  to  follow  exclusively 
in  the  footsteps  of  another,  even  of  Froebel,  in  spite  of 
his  full  concurrence  with  him  in  his  idea,  and  his  recog- 
nition of  the  greatness  of  his  work.*  His  support  of 
Froebel,  and  the  application  of  the  principles  recognized 
as  the  correct  ones,  he  promised  to  undertake  with  his 
best  powers,  so  far  as  his  chosen  calling  permitted. 

Such  nearly  were  the  views  of  Lange,  the  justice  of 
which  was  not  to  be  contested  ;  but  Froebel  inconsider- 
ately required  his  full  surrender,  and  every  sacrifice  for 
the  working  out  of  his  idea. 

"  Cast  everything  behind  you  and  follow  me,"  he 
thought  he  also  ought  to  require  from  his  disciples.  So, 
of  course,  it  came  to  a  violent  conflict  between  these 

*  In  his  pamphlet  entitled  "  The  Understanding  of  Friedrich  Froebel," 
Dr.  Lange  had  already  advocated  Froebel's  cause  with  profound  recognition 
and  enthusiasm. 


l68          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

two  energetic  characters  and  impassioned  minds,  without 
either,  from  his  own  point  of  view,  being  in  the  wrong. 
It  pained  my  heart  that  they  could  come  to  no  agree- 
ment, and  must  separate  without  it. 

My  later  friendly  relations  with  Dr.  Lange  have  made 
me  understand  that  he  could  not  allow  himself  at  that 
time  to  be  bound  completely,  when  his  individuality  and 
circumstances  drew  him  in  another  direction. 

It  is  known  how  he  has  nevertheless  given  his  weighty 
support  to  Froebel's  cause,  and  how  he  has  done  the 
most  important  service  by  editing  his  works.  His  rela- 
tion to  Froebel  and  his  cause  is  explained  by  himself  in 
the  preface  to  that  edition,  therefore  I  need  say  no  more 
about  it  than  the  course  of  these  remarks  inevitably 
involves. 

Dr.  Lange  has  lent  double  significance  to  his  advo- 
cacy of  Froebel's  cause,  and  served  as  a  protecting  shield 
to  it  in  the  time  of  its  persecution,  and  will,  I  hope,  con- 
tribute yet  further  to  fix  attention  and  gain  recognition 
from  a  world  generally  ignorant  of  this  weighty  reform. 

When  Middendorff  came  for  a  short  time  to  Marien- 
thal,  in  the  middle  of  November,  this  subject  was  often 
spoken  of,  and  Middendorff  endeavored  to  console  and 
tranquillize  Froebel  in  his  disappointment.  He  repeated 
again  and  again  :  — 

"  Lange  is  still  true  ;  he  does  not  desert  the  cause,  you 
may  rely  upon  it.  He  must  make  for  himself  a  firm  place 
in  which  to  work  out  his  own  views  and  bring  them  fully 
into  unison  with  yours,  and  then  he  will  also  be  active  for 
your  idea  and  advocate  it  with  full  power.  You  certainly 
wish  that  every  one  should  follow  out  his  own  convictions, 
and  independently  determine  for  himself  and  reach  his 


REMINISCENCES    OF   FROEBEL.  169 

own  place  in  life  ?  Lange's  probity  is  the  guaranty  that 
he  will  not  desert  our  cause." 

Such  assurances  from  Middendorff,  expressed  as  his 
innermost  conviction,  contributed  to  cheer  Froebel, 
although  he  seldom  made  reference  to  the  matter,  but 
silently  withdrew  within  himself,  as  was  his  wont  at  every 
downfall  of  his  hopes  and  at  every  pain. 

As  the  cause  stood  without  sufficient  permanent  sup- 
port by  good  and  scientifically  cultivated  men,  I  shared 
Froebel's  wish  only  too  warmly  to  secure  Lange  com- 
pletely and  practically  to  our  cause  ;  and  at  that  time,  in 
the  midst  of  my  fresh  enthusiasm  for  the  idea,  I  some- 
times felt  much  solicitude  as  to  how  the  important  work 
should  be  adequately  accomplished  while  it  found  so  little 
solid,  intelligent  furtherance. 

One  evening  when  we  were  talking  in  Froebel's  room, 
Middendorff  said :  "  You  must  found  a  society,  Madame 
von  Marenholz,  which  shall  consider  the  holy  cause  of 
human  education  as  its  apostolate,  and  undertake  the 
great  task  that  falls  to  women  in  our  time.  There  is  no 
greater  one  than  the  perfecting  of  the  human  race  by  an 
education  truly  worthy  of  man." 

Froebel  added  :  "  Women  are  to  recognize  that  child- 
hood and  womanliness  (the  care  of  childhood  and  the  life 
of  women)  are  inseparably  connected,  that  they  form  a 
unit,  and  that  God  and  nature  have  placed  the  protection 
of  the  human  plant  in  their  hands.  Hitherto  the  female 
sex  could  take  only  a  more  or  less  passive  part  in  human 
history,  because  great  battles  and  the  political  organiza- 
tion of  nations  were  not  suited  to  their  powers.  But  at 
the  present  stage  of  culture  nothing  is  more  pressingly 
required  than  the  cultivation  of  every  human  power  for 


170          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

the  arts  of  peace  and  the  work  of  higher  civilization. 
The  culture  of  individuals,  and  therefore  of  the  whole 
nation,  depends  in  great  part  upon  the  earliest  care  of 
childhood.  On  that  account  women,  as  one  half  of  man- 
kind, have  to  undertake  the  most  important  part  of  the 
problems  of  the  time,  problems  that  men  are  not  able  to 
solve.  If  but  one  half  of  the  work  be  accomplished,  then 
our  epoch,  like  all  others,  will  fail  to  reach  the  appointed 
goal.  As  educators  of  mankind,  the  women  of  the  pres- 
ent time  have  the  highest  duty  to  perform,  while  hitherto 
they  have  been  scarcely  more  than  the  beloved  mothers 
of  human  beings. 

"  Make  them  understand  (particularly  the  young  wo- 
men) that  the  sex  takes  on  itself  a  heavy  responsibility 
if  it  refuses  its  co-operation  in  the  work  of  the  new  edu- 
cation. Tell  women  to  take  part  immediately,  by  their 
educational  activity,  in  the  destiny  of  nations ;  tell  them 
that  the  recognition  of  the  dignity  of  the  female  sex 
depends  upon  this.  The  sex  must  be  torn,  not  only  from 
its  instinctive  and  passive,  but  from  its  merely  personal 
life,  in  order  to  live  as  a  conscious  member  of  humanity. 
The  consciousness  of  its  elevated  life-work,  and  the 
capacity  truly  to  accomplish  it,  will  do  more  to  bring  on 
the  kingdom  of  God  than  all  other  means.  For  child- 
hood leads  to  nature  and  to  God,  protects  and  awakens 
the  sense  of  Divine  unity,  and  will  make  the  .whole  human 
race  capable  of  a  higher  unity  with  God.  What  higher 
work  can  there  be  ? 

"  Even  the  great  work  in  the  domain  of  practical  life, 
which  falls  especially  to  the  male  sex,  needs  the  indirect 
co-operation  of  women  ;  for  they  alone  can,  by  their  edu- 
cation of  men,  make  them  capable  of  their  calling. 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          171 

Repeat  to  your  sex  the  saying  of  Herder :  '  Meditate 
upon  and  educate  (for  you  alone  can  do  it)  a  happy 
posterity.'" 

"Will  you  tell  me  some  means,"  was  my  answer,  "that 
will  change  domestic  dulness  into  true,  warm  enthusiasm, 
and  rapturous  eccentricity  into  logical  thinking  ?  Then 
I  will  undertake  to  form  a  league  of  women  who  will 
battle  and  work,  sacrifice  and  live,  for  your  educational 
cause.  Without  that,  it  is  difficult  to  do  much  in  these 
days. 

"  The  endeavors  I  have  already  made  have  convinced 
me  that  only  through  the  co-operation  of  men  can  women 
be  set  in  motion  persistently  for  work  of  universal  util- 
ity. I  hope,  therefore,  that  the  idea  will  kindle  in  the 
minds  of  some  virtuous  men  who  are  capable  of  under- 
taking its  further  development.  Passive  obedience  and 
mechanical  activity  for  universal  welfare,  as  Catholic 
and  Protestant  nuns  now  practise  them,  need  not  exist 
any  longer  among  the  women  of  the  present  time,  if  the 
female  sex  can  be  awakened  to  the  consciousness  of  its 
higher  and  highest  life-tasks,  and  be  active,  like  men,  in 
the  service  of  humanity.  But  the  present  day-dreaming, 
pleasure-seeking,  and  frivolity  are  increasing,  instead  of 
a  strong  sense  of  duty ;  empty  superficiality  takes  the 
place  of  sound  knowledge,  so  that  women  are  not  fitted, 
by  their  care  of  childhood,  to  forming  men  anew  for  self- 
sacrifice  and  self-surrender. 

"  Let  us  also  be  just.  The  great  majority  of  women 
are  not  sufficiently  -cultivated  to  understand  the  idea 
lying  at  the  foundation  of  your  method  of  education. 
The  mere  practical  carrying-out  of  the  work  without  the 
idea  is  not  calculated  to  satisfy  the  exceptionally  superior 


172          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

intellects  and  lively  imaginations  among  women.  Women 
must  understand  beforehand  in  how  far,  even  for  them- 
selves, an  education  corresponding  to  nature  and  their 
being, is  an  emancipation  from  the  fetters  of  centuries; 
and  it  will  make  female  genius  capable  of  miracles  in 
future  of  which  we  have  now  no  conception.  Where 
this  misapprehended  genius  flutters  its  wings  at  present 
it  brings  only  heavy  sorrow  to  the  individuals  whom  it 
affects,  while  the  mass  dance  through  life  like  gnats. 

"  Now  the  question  is,  how  to  make  your  teachings 
comprehensible  by  individuals ;  and  I  presume  you  be- 
lieve that  I  will  do  all  in  my  power  especially  to  warm 
up  youthful  feelings  for  the  cause,  which  is  now  my  cause 
as  well  as  yours. 

"  I  will  interpret  your  doctrine,  and  endeavor  to  make 
it  intelligible,  which  I  can  now  do  better  than  yourself 
in  some  respects,  for  you  always  set  before  your  hearers 
depths  of  thought  not  familiar  to  them.  But,  if  I  am  to 
succeed,  you  must  teach  me  further,  hold  back  nothing, 
and  not  desert  me  if  I  fall  to  the  ground." 

"  Good ! "  said  Froebel,  laughing.  "  I  will  spare  no 
trouble  to  be  intelligible,  and  you  know  how  willingly  I 
hold  converse  with  you ;  but  time  is  always  wanting." 

It  was  now  almost  midnight,  and  high  time  to  break 
up.  It  was  the  blackest  of  nights  ;  the  November  storm 
was  howling,  and  making  the  windows  rattle.  Midden- 
dorff  brought  the  not  cheering  information  that  the  peas- 
ant who  was  accustomed  to  accompany  me  from  Marien- 
thal  to  Liebenstein  with  his  lantern,  when  I  remained 
there  to  a  late  hour,  was  not  there,  and  he  wished  to 
accompany  me  himself.  The  way  led  through  a  thick 
wood,  against  whose  trees  I  had  often  struck  my  head  in 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  173 

the  dark.  The  little  footpath  led  to  a  ploughed  field, 
in  which  one  often  sank  to  the  ankles  after  a  long  rain. 
The  better  way  back  by  the  road  was  quite  long.  For 
these  reasons  I  was  very  unwilling  to  allow  Middendorff 
to  be  my  guide.  But  he  persisted. 

When  I  had  prepared  myself  for  the  walk  by  covering 
my  head  with  cloths,  as  was  necessary,  and  had  hitched 
up  my  skirts  and  stepped  back  into  the  room  to  bid 
Froebel  good  night,  Middendorff  led  me  up  to  him  with 
these  words  :  "  Now  look  at  our  Lady  von  Marenholz  in 
this  masquerade.  Does  she  not  resemble  a  Schwarz- 
burger  peasant-woman  ? "  And  with  that,  both  the  old 
friends  shook  with  laughter. 

A  delightful  intimacy  existed  between  us  all  in  Marien- 
thal  at  that  time,  so  that  insignificant  scenes  remain 
strongly  impressed  upon  the  memory. 

That  summer  of  1850  was  the  last  that  passed  freely 
and  serenely  in  our  circle.  The  next  year  was  to  end 
with  the  great  disturbance  of  the  prohibition  of  kinder- 
gartens. 


CHAPTER     XIII. 

THE   LAST  SUMMER  IN   LIEBENSTEIN. 

THE  second  Whitsuntide  day  of  this  year  (1851) 
was  fixed  upon  for  Froebel's  nuptials ;  and  all 
the  friends  and  pupils  who  found  it  possible  to  do  so 
hastened  to  Marienthal  to  take  part  in  them.  Scarcely 
risen  from  severe  illness,  I  arrived  a  few  days  before  at 
Liebenstein. 


174          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

Everything  was  already  in  gay  movement  at  Marienthal, 
in  preparation  for  the  impending  festival.  The  pupils  were 
arranging  various  costumes  for  the  masquerade  that  was 
to  take  place  the  evening  before  the  marriage  ceremony, 
and  were  learning  their  parts  for  some  poetical  represen- 
tations and  charades.  P'raulein  Levin,  who  was  already 
housewife  and  teacher,  was  occupied  with  arrangements 
in  the  house ;  and  I  found  Froebel  at  -his  writing-table 
in  his  study.  He  greeted  me  with  an  expression  of  the 
profoundest  satisfaction. 

It  was  clear  how  truly  happy  and  pleased  he  was  made 
by  the  new-found  home,  which  had  already  formed  a  cul- 
tivated family  circle  of  young,  bright  pupils,  in  quiet, 
undisturbed  domesticity.  The  battle  of  life  lay  behind 
him  ;  he  had  parted  with  the  world,  which  did  not  under- 
stand him,  and  whose  applause  he  had  never  sought. 
He  now  found  himself  in  rural  surroundings,  which  he 
had  always  desired,  and  could  give  himself  up,  unmo- 
lested by  opposition  and  obstacles,  to  the  further  devel- 
opment of  his  idea,  and  to  the  improvement  of  the 
practical  means  for  it,  and  could  sow  the  seeds  of  his 
doctrine  in  the  receptive  minds  of  his  female  pupils. 
He  was  assisted  and  well  taken  care  of  by  her  whom  he 
had  chosen  as  the  companion  of  his  last  days.  After  a 
life  of  labor  and  cares,  trouble  and  combat,  he  could,  to 
all  appearances,  reckon  upon  a  beautiful,  peaceful  even- 
ing of  life,  which  would  allow  him  to  look  with  increasing 
clearness  upon  the  development  of  his*  cause,  and  fill  up 
the  gaps  still  existing  in  it. 

But  rarely  in  the  life  of  man  are  such  promises  of  last- 
ing rest,  and  happy,  peaceful  existence  fulfilled,  most  rarely 
for  those  who  have  devoted  themselves  to  the  service  of 


REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL.  175 

mankind  and  to  the  realization  of  an  idea.  This  was  to 
prove  true  with  Froebel. 

Middendorff  soon  arrived,  the  never-failing  aid  in  Froe- 
bel's  life,  and  the  sole  representative  of  the  family  circle 
of  Keilhau,  whose  members,  for  various  reasons,  were 
not  in  accord  with  Froebel's  second  marriage.  And  here, 
also,  Middendorfif  had  again  undertaken  the  office  he  had 
filled  on  previous  occasions,  —  that  of  soother  and  peace- 
maker. In  order  to  spare  Froebel  as  far  as  possible  from 
any  discord  on  the  impending  days  of  festivity,  he  be- 
sought of  me,  on  our  first  interview,  to  stand  by  him  and 
to  withstand  these  things  wherever  they  might  appear. 

Among  the  arrangements  for  the  festival,  it  was  decided 
that  Middendorff  should  be  the  groomsman  and  that  I 
should  be  the  bridesmaid,  offices  that  we  both  undertook 
joyfully. 

On  the  evening  before  the  festival,  the  pupils  brought 
in  their  presents  with  all  kinds  of  play,  with  poetic  effu- 
sions, songs,  and  allegorical  representations.  The  apart- 
ments gayly  decked  with  garlands  of  flowers  furnished  the 
necessary  stage,  and  joyous  gayety  inspired  young  and 
old,  and  above  all  Froebel  himself,  who  at  the  close  led 
off  in  some  of  the  kindergarten  plays,  in  which  all  present 
took  part. 

On  the  following  day,  Pastor  Riickert  (brother  of  the 
well-known  poet  Riickert),  from  the  neighboring  village 
of  Schweina,  blessed  the  marriage  union  in  one  of  the 
halls  of  Marienthal,  at  a  flower-decked  altar,  and  spoke 
with  deep  recognition  of  Froebel's  blessed  work.  Who- 
ever saw  Froebel  at  this  moment  of  inmost  concentration, 
when  with  the  deepest  devotion  he  rose  in  prayer  to  God, 
could  surely  never  doubt  his  religion,  and  must  have 


176  REMINISCENCES  OF   FROEBEL. 

received  the  fullest  impression  of  his  true  and  lofty  piety. 
At  that  moment  one  could  see  his  heart  overflow  in  thanks 
and  praise  to  Him  who  "  had  always  guided  him  like  a 
father,"  as  he  frequently  expressed  it. 

He  met  our  congratulations  with  streaming  eyes,  and 
after  the  seriousness  of  the  ceremony  had  passed  was  as 
gay  and  happy  as  a  child,  thanking  us  all  most  heartily 
for  the  assistance  we  had  afforded  to  his  cause.  Till  late 
in  the  evening  the  playing  and  dancing  continued,  in 
which  both  Froebel  and  Middendorff  joined  in  spite  of 
their  sixty-eight  and  sixty-nine  years. 

No  one  could  have  looked  upon  their  participation  in 
the  youthful  amusements  with  censure  or  ridicule,  so 
touching  was  its  childlike  artlessness  and  genuine  dig- 
nity. Only  in  the  absence  of  personal  pretensions,  when 
every  one  gives  himself  up  wholly  to  the  moment,  and 
every  individual  in  the  whole  circle  in  which  he  finds 
himself  feels  in  harmony  with  all,  — only  there  can  true 
happiness  and  noble  enjoyment  rule  the  hour,  whatever 
may  be  the  outward  surroundings.  The  simplest  sur- 
roundings, or  the  most  incomplete  in  respect  to  space, 
beauty,  and  glitter,  will  not  disturb  genuine  joy. 

The  earnest,  heartfelt  conference  under  a  garret  roof, 
lighted  by  a  tallow-candle,  is  often  counted  amongst  the 
most  beautiful  memories ! 

The  guests  at  Froebel's  nuptials  felt  nothing  of  that 
oppressive  feeling  of  tedium  which  has  become  proverbial 
at  such  festivals.  Every  one  went  away  with  the  feeling 
that  they  had  spent  some  hours  in  childlike  gayety. 

On  parting,  Froebel  said  to  me,  "  Now  we  will  go  to 
work  again  with  new  power."  And  on  the  next  day  he 
resumed  the  instruction  of  his  pupils. 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.         177 

CHAPTER     XIV. 

SECOND  VISIT  OF  DIESTERWEG. 

SOME  days  after  this  came  Diesterweg,  who  had  been 
prevented  from  taking  part  in  the  nuptials. 

Froebel  listened  most  earnestly  to  our  report  of  what 
we  had  done  for  his  cause  during  the  last  winter  in  Berlin. 

I  had  formed  a  society  of  women,  chiefly  belonging  to 
an  already  existing  society  for  the  improvement  of  do- 
mestic service,  to  which  I  gave  lectures  every  week  upon 
Froebel's  educational  doctrine,  and  to  which  Diesterweg 
belonged  as  our  aid  and  counsellor.  Froebel  was  par- 
ticularly delighted  when  I  informed  him  how  specially 
his  "  Mother  and  Cosset  Songs "  had  awakened  the 
interest  of  the  young  girls,  and  excited  the  earnest  desire 
in  some  of  them  to  become  his  pupils. 

To  accomplish  these  purposes,  often  prevented  by  the 
want  of  pecuniary  means,  we  agreed  to  collect  a  fund  for 
kindergarten  scholarships,  in  order  to  make  it  possible 
for  those  who  were  without  means,  to  attend  the  institu- 
tion at  Marienthal,  and  at  the  same  time  to  insure  a 
future  calling  and  livelihood.  Numerous  letters  of  the 
earlier  pupils  of  Froebel  proved  how  suitable  to  the 
female  mind  is  the  calling  of  the  kindergartener,  —  as  a 
rule  decidely  more  suitable  than  any  other.  From  these 
communications  it  appeared  plainly  how  many  stunted 
existences  had  recovered  themselves  in  this  occupation 
by  intercourse  with  innocent,  happy  groups  of  children, 
which  had  enabled  them  to  look  serenely  again  upon  life 
and  hopefully  into  the  future.  The  expression,  "  I  can 


178          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

scarcely  describe  how  happy  I  feel  in  the  midst  of  my 
children,"  was  repeated  again  and  again  in  the  majority 
of  these  letters. 

In  after  years  I  received  similar  expressions  from  my 
own  pupils,  many  of  whom  had  occupied  themselves  with 
the  education  of  young  children  before  they  had  studied 
Froebel's  method.  But  they  had  gained  an  insight  through 
that,  which  made  their  calling  a  different  one  after  they 
had  spoken  the  "  open,  sesame  "  to  child-nature,  and  at 
the  same  time  learned  the  means  of  occupying  their 
pupils  in  the  right  way. 

"  How  difficult  I  found  it  to  be  skilful  with  children, 
to  make  them  obedient  and  tractable,"  said  one  of  them, 
"  while  now,  with  the  greatest  ease,  by  the  help  of  Froe- 
bel's occupations,  and  following  out  his  educational  in- 
structions, I  succeed  in  this  and  can  very  soon  win  over 
and  improve  the  most  spoiled  and  refractory  children." 

Another  kindergartener  said,  "If  the  mothers  could 
only  learn  to  understand  Froebel's  method,  and  would 
co-operate  with  us  in  following  it  out,  how  they  would 
develop  themselves,  and  how  much  trouble,  care,  and 
conflict  would  be  saved  on  both  sides ! " 

Such  remarks  pleased  Froebel  more  than  anything  else> 
and  also  the  proposed  foundation  of  the  first  kindergarten 
in  Berlin,  which  we  had  prepared  the  way  for  by  means 
of  our  society.  He  recommended  one  of  his  earlier 
pupils,  Fraulein  Erdmann,*  to  be  the  directress  of  it. 

But  we  could  not  conceal  from  him  the  great  difficulties 
which  the  cause  had  to  overcome,  especially  in  Berlin, 
where,  in  that  time  of  reaction,  everything  new  and  aU 

*  Fraulein  Erdmann  conducted  our  first  institution  for  three  years. 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          179 

activity  in  the  direction  of  progress  were  looked  upon 
with  distrustful  eyes  as  destructive. 

Diesterweg  said  :  "  As  long  as  the  rabble  rules  in  Ber- 
lin, the  cause  will  go  miserably  there.  Frau  von  Maren- 
holz  will  not  see  that,  and  therefore  takes  much  useless 
trouble  with  people  who  are  not  to  be  made  of  any  use 
to  us." 

"  I  care  very  little  for  the  direction  which  men  take, 
either  politically  or  religiously,"  I  replied,  "  if  they  act 
from  conviction,  and  have  honorable  souls  ;  and  such 
men  are  found  in  every  party  and  even  among  the  rabble, 
as  you  call  them.  We  can  count  among  these  many  a 
one  who  is  neither  a  bigot,  nor  a  hypocrite,  nor  a  block- 
head, but  truly  and  sensibly  has  connected  his  religious 
faith  with  the  letter  of  orthodoxy.  Those  in  the  liberal 
party  who  acknowledge  no  religion,  and  allow  themselves 
to  be  satisfied  with  the  present  earthly  life,  are  seldom 
inclined  to  work  for  better  circumstances  in  the  future. 
The  crude  materialists  we  can  use  least  of  all ;  and  the 
scientific  who  work  for  the  solution  of  the  problems  of 
our  time  with  conviction  and  noble  love  of  truth,  striving 
to  reconcile  and  unite  spirit  and  matter,  after  the  long 
disunion  of  centuries  under  the  dualistic  theory,  are  too 
much  taken  up  with  their  own  problems  to  offer  us  assist- 
ance in  solving  ours. 

"  This  growth  of  our  time,  which  has  appeared  both  in 
the  rabble  and  among  the  pietists,  will  fall  to  the  ground 
by  its  own  unsoundness,  and  those  who  make  use  of  it  as 
a  lever  for  their  own  selfish  designs  will  forsake  and  be- 
tray their  party  when  the  influence  from  above  them  shall 
flow  in  another  direction.  But  if  by  means  of  the  new 
education  we  should  smooth  the  way  for  real  and  true 


l8o  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

religion,  sound  and  seasonable  theories,  we  must  think 
of  the  children  who  either  grow  up  in  families  without 
any  religious  culture,  or  are  forced  into  extreme  direc- 
tions which  do  not  stand  against  the  knowledge  of  our 
time,  and  generally  lead  either  to  looseness  of  religion 
or  to  one-sidedness  and  fanaticism.  The  children  who 
grow  up  under  either  extreme,  need  special  guidance  to 
true  religious  thinking,  and  correct  "knowledge  of  God. 
Therefore  I  seek  to  win  over  the  parents  of  every  party 
to  the  kindergarten,  or  at  least  to  conquer  their  false 
prejudices  against  it. 

"  The  religious  foundation  which  the  kindergarten  gives 
can  only  be  a  general  one,  because  of  the  age  of  the 
pupils.  It  prepares  the  ground  for  the  later  seeds  of 
doctrine  which  are  to  be  sown.  The  good  ground  will 
then  improve  many  bad  seeds  and  prevent  the  growing 
of  mischief. " 

"  You  are  quite  right  there,"  said  Froebel ;  "  we  must 
receive  the  children  of  all  parties,  of  every  religious  ten- 
dency, and  not  ask  where  the  parents  stand  or  to  whom 
they  belong.  Every  child  is  a  new  man,  and  brings  with 
him  into  the  world  the  possibility  of  a  virtuous  man. 
We  must  combat  by  our  education  the  perversities  of 
parents,  and  the  false,  unsound  atmosphere  of  life.  If 
we  gain  in  this  generation  but  a  small  number  of  chil- 
dren for  the  right  and  the  good,  the  next  generation  will 
double  the  number,  and  so  on  in  each  succeeding  genera- 
tion till  all  are  drawn  up  to  the  new  stage  of  develop- 
ment, and  there  will  be  still  new  steps  to  climb.  In 
times  which  are  specially  fitted  to  lead  into  higher  views 
of  truth,  extremes  and  caricatures  of  earlier  views  will 
always  appear. 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  l8l 

"  The  understanding  of  the  old  truth  is  lost,  that  is, 
the  form  in  which  it  was  first  recognized  corresponds  no 
longer  to  the  point  of  view  now  gained.  But  what  is 
true  always  remains  true. 

"  Before,  however,  the  new,  higher  form  of  knowledge  is 
gained,  such  perversions  appear  either  as  the  most  crass 
superstition,  or  as  unbelief.  But  a  new  revelation  of 
truth  can  appear  only  if  the  old  one  is  understood,  or 
understood  in  a  higher  sense,  for  God  can  only  unfold  to 
us  so  much  of  truth  as  we  are  in  a  condition  to  accept. 
And  therefore  religious  revelations  have  come  into  the 
world  by  degrees  and  in  fragments,  as  it  were,  and  this 
must  go  on  continuously  till  we  have  become  sufficiently 
ripe  to  seize  the  whole  truth.  In  every  portion  of  truth 
the  whole  is  contained  in  a  certain  sense,  as  the  macro- 
cosm shows  itself  in  the  microcosm,  but  only  to  the 
spiritual  eye  that  can  perceive  it. 

"  One  side  of  truth  without  taking  the  other  side  into 
consideration  is  one-sided ;  as  if  I  let  a  child  see  only  one 
side  of  a  cube,  and  conceal  the  other  three  by  my  hand. 
The  human  mind,  in  course  of  time,  has  thus  ever  devel- 
oped every  truth  that  has  come  to  its  recognition  in 
one-sidedness,  and  thereby  manifold  perversions  of  it  have 
occurred.  The  perception  that  there  is  another  side 
places  the  one  first  seen  in  the  right  light,  and  thus  leads 
to  new  knowledge. 

"  In  general,  the  human  mind  can  seize  upon  the  as- 
pects of  truth  only  one  after  the  other,  as  it  can  perceive 
things  only  in  succession.  One  age  must  bring  one 
knowledge,  another  another,  so  that  the  next  truth  can 
be  seized ;  and  the  last  seen  always  changes  the  form 
and  expression  of  the  preceding  one. 


182          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

"  This  takes  place  in  all  the  domains  of  human  knowl- 
edge and  practical  power,  and  even  of  faith,  —  faith,  which 
is  the  seizing  of  truth  by  the  feelings,  while  seeing  belongs 
to  the  intellect.  Should  the  knowledge  of  God  and  of 
divine  things  develop  in  the  human  mind  otherwise  than 
knowledge  in  other  domains  ?  That  cannot  be,  for  the 
mind  of  man  is  one,  and  in  unity,  —  mind  out  of  God's 
mind.  • 

"  Knowledge  of  God,  like  all  knowledge,  enters  the 
human  mind  by  degrees,  from  the  first  presentiment  up 
to  faith,  and  then  on  to  sight,  till  the  spirit  comes  up  into 
highest  unity  or  consciousness  of  God.  And  it  can  only 
become  conscious  of  God  because  the  tendency  to  the 
knowledge  of  truth  is  inborn,  because  the  consciousness 
of  God  is  immanent  in  every  human  soul,  or  is,  as  it 
were,  a  disposition  native  to  it. 

"  Every  new  stage  of  human  development  which  occurs 
in  its  own  time  as  surely  as  the  time  itself  comes,  and 
like  the  time  brings  in  cyclical  consequence  its  own 
peculiarities,  increases  the  capacity  for  the  understanding 
of  truth,  and  thus  broadens  the  knowledge  of  God.  But 
in  each  generation  also  the  most  various  degrees  of  this 
capacity  are  found  in  individuals.  The  undeveloped 
peasant  receives  the  divine, truths  of  Christianity  in  a 
different  manner  from  the  learned  theologian,  or  t  the 
thinker  standing  upon  the  height  of  culture,  although 
these  truths  are  precisely  the  same  in  themselves  and 
every  one  receives  them  in  the  same  statements.  The 
truth"  cannot  change,  for  it  is  one  and  eternal,  though 
the  degrees  in  which  it  is  comprehended  vary  from  each 
other.  But  that  manner  of  viewing  things  which  con- 
ceives the  development  of  humanity  as  completed,  and, 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  183 

as  it  were,  repeating  itself  anew  or  in  greater  univer- 
sality, is  partial  beyond  expression.  Every  succeeding 
generation,  according  to  that  view,  is  only  a  bad  imita- 
tion, an  external  dead  copy,  a  cast,  as  it  were,  of  the  ear- 
lier image,  instead  of  a  living  one  for  the  new  stage  of 
development. 

"  Humanity,  looked  at  externally,  is  not  seen  to  be  an 
already  perfected  thing,  not  an  already  established,  last- 
ing thing,  but  a  continually  progressive,  growing  thing, 
rising  from  one  stage  of  culture  to  another,  striding 
toward  the  goal  that  touches  upon  infinity. 

"  The  educator  of  man  can  only  fulfil  his  task  truly 
when  he  clearly  recognizes  the  whole  of  the  man  and  of 
mankind,  and  knows  how  to  separate  the  universal,  the 
eternal  in  his  being,  from  the  particular  form  that  belongs 
but  to  one  time  or  person,  —  or  the  casual. 

"  The  church,  our  Christian  church,  would  not  have 
failed  so  often  in  its  educational  task  if  it  had  been  mind- 
ful of  this  irrefragable  truth,  had  taken  more  into  consid- 
eration the  tide  of  development  that  is  always  rising. 

"  The  Absolute  alone  remains  unalterably  the  same, 
but  the  Absolute  is  not  to  be  comprehended  by  the  hu- 
man mind.  The  Absolute  in  earthly  phenomena  is  only 
a  manner  of  relation,  or  relative.  Therefore  the  moral 
model  of  an  epoch  may  carry  within  itself  the  absolutely 
moral  or  divine,  while  the  outward  phenomena  belong 
to  the  men  and  to  the  time  in  which  they  appear.  If  in 
reference  to  Jesus  there  had  not  always  been  this  confu- 
sion between  what  is  absolute  and  divine  and  what  is 
relative  and  human,  which  latter  belongs  to  the  time  and 
to  the  capacity  of  comprehension  in  the  actual  genera- 
tion, the  efficiency  and  influence  of  the  church  would  not 
have  sunk  so  low  as  is  at  present  the  case. 


184  REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL. 

"  The  orthodox  will  hold  fast  to  the  antiquated  form 
of  expression,  to  the  letter  which  kills ;  and  the  living, 
productive  truth  which  is  thus  lost  for  the  time  is  par- 
alyzed to  them,  for  it  really  is  not  understood.  They 
have  the  idea,  but  do  not  know  that  they  do  not  under- 
stand it.  And  the  children  are  the  sufferers.  Both  our 
present  rationalists  and  the  religious  liberals  do  away 
with  the  fundamental  idea  of  Christianity  while  they  think 
they  free  themselves  only  from  useless  accessories  to  it." 

"I  do  not  agree  in  that  opinion,"  said  Diesterweg; 
"it  is  high  time  to  clear  away  the  old  rubbish  in  the 
church.  If  we  wish  to  preserve  a  sound  view  of  religious 
things  for  our  children,  if  all  religion  is  not  to  be  over- 
thrown, we  must  throw  overboard  the  theological  furni- 
ture of  our  times.  Jesus  indeed  never  dreamed  of  what 
the  preachers  would  make  out  of  his  great,  childlike, 
simple  teaching.  I  am  entirely  in  agreement  with  his 
original,  simple  teaching;  it  was  addressed  to  man  out 
of  the  soul,  —  but  away  with  all  that  has  overlaid  it,  or 
the  high-sounding  exegesis !  Religion  must  be  —  it  is  — 
the  deepest  need  of  the  human  soul ;  I  feel  this  as  much 
as  those  who  call  me  infidel  or  atheist.  The  church  must 
be  —  it  is  —  the  expression  of  reverence  for  God  ;  but 
every  religion  and  every  church  must  answer  to  the  ac- 
tual stage  of  the  people's  culture,  and  not  contradict 
reason.  All  that  is  actually,  historically  handed  down 
to  us  must,  from  one  century  to  another,  be  purified 
again  and  again  from  the  rust  and  dross  which  time  and 
the  errors  of  individuals  have  left  upon  it.  Such  a  work 
of  purification  the  Reformation  accomplished  through 
Luther,  and  shall  our  time  be  refused  a  renewed  and 
necessary  purification  of  the  church  from  antiquated  dog- 
mas and  false  interpretations  of  the  idea  ? " 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          185 

"  No,  not  that,"  answered  Froebel ;  "  but  we  must  not, 
in  this  work  of  purification  and  refining,  throw  aside  the 
peculiar,  fundamental  idea,  as  the  rationalists  really  do 
in  the  free-religious  societies.  God  in  humanity,  human- 
ity from  God,  —  that  is  and  will  be  the  eternal,  true, 
Christian  idea,  which  Jesus,  living  and  teaching,  revealed. 
Judaism,  as  the  beginning  of  the  monotheistic  view,  was 
the  means  of  bringing  the  knowledge  of  God  into  the  uni- 
verse, or  gave  rise  to  the  truth  of  the  single  divine  Mind 
in  nature,  which  is  from  God.  This  truth  Christianity 
did  not  annul :  we  have,  on  the  contrary,  retained  the 
traditions  of  the  Old  Testament  in  our  Holy  Scripture. 
We  may  designate  the  Mosaic  dispensation  as  the  history 
of  creation,  while  Christianity  is  rightly  named  the  his- 
tory of  redemption. 

"  If  the  present  stage  of  development  is  destined  to 
infuse  the  knowledge  that  man  and  his  being  is  one  with 
nature,  and  to  call  upon  spirit  and  nature  to  be  recon- 
ciled by  spiritualizing  the  nature  of  man,  this  is  no  denial 
of  Christian  truth,  —  God  in  humanity,  humanity  in  God, 
—  but  only  a  supplementing  of  human  knowledge  of 
truth,  and,  at  the  same  time,  a  sanction  of  Christian 
revelation. 

"  What  other  objects  of  our  knowledge  exist  but  GOD, 
MAN,  NATURE? 

"What  other  task  can  our  intellect  have  than  to  find 
the  relation  between  these  three  sole  existing  objects  ? 

"  The  first  thing  for  the  human  mind  is,  to  draw  the 
synthesis,  God  in  nature,  nature  from  God  (the  history  of 
creation) ;  then  follows  the  synthesis,  the  Divine  Spirit  in 
humanity,  the  human  spirit  from  God,  or  the  Christian 
revelation  through  Jesus  (God-man).  Now,  there  is  yet 


l86  REMINISCENCES  OF   FROEBEL. 

to  be  drawn  the  synthesis  between  humanity  and  nature, 
and  thus  to  recognize  the  tri-unity  which  makes  up  the 
result  of  this  connection  or  unifying  of  opposites.  By  the 
solving  of  this  problem,  the  human  mind  is  to  see 
the  whole  truth,  which  in  itself  is  one,  and  could  only 
enter  the  human  mind  while  the  three  objects  of  the 
truth  to  be  known,  and  their  relations  with  each  other, 
were  proclaimed  in  three  successive  epochs: 

"  This  view  not  only  does  not  contradict  the  Christian 
revelation,  but  can  alone  place  it  in  its  right  light,  and 
verify  it  as  eternal  truth." 

"  Do  you  believe,"  said  Diesterweg,  "  that  you  will 
persuade  the  theologians  of  this,  who  will  accuse  you, 
as  they  do  me,  of  heresy  ? " 

"I  do  not  dispute  with  the  theologians,"  answered 
Froebel.  "  I  think  I  am  really  as  orthodox  as  them- 
selves. I  know  Christ,  and  he  knows  me :  that  is 
enough  for  me.  I  do  recognize  that  it  is  historically 
necessary  that  The  qld  form  of  truth  shall  not  perish 
entirely,  —  at  least,  not  till  the  new  form  has  completely 
developed  itself.  No  view  must  be  entirely  lost.  The 
history  of  man  would  be  incomprehensible  if  it  should 
be  so  ;  for  each  view  shows  a  phase  of  the  general  de- 
velopment, and  each  one  proves  that,  in  spite  of  all  the 
obscurations  that  have  arisen  out  of  human  error,  the 
spirit  of  truth  has  at  no  time  quite  forsaken  humanity. 
The  spirit  of  truth  is  God's  spirit,  —  the  spirit  of  the 
Father  who  never  forsakes  his  children. 

"  But  even  the  knowledge  of  truth  cannot  be  bestowed 
upon  us,  as  freedom  cannot  be  bestowed  upon  us :  it  is 
only  won  by  strivings  of  the  human  mind  itself.  Every 
revelation  which  God  sends  into  the  world,  through  the 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  187 

minds  he  creates,  is  a  germ  which  human  labor  has  to 
develop.  Even  the  strifes  and  the  errors  of  the  church 
are  not  to  be  shunned  :  they  even  will  serve  to  develop  the 
germ  of  truth,  and  make  it  understood.  Every  historical 
crime  is  an  experience  which  leads  towards  truth." 

"  Evil  must  come,  but  woe  to  him  through  whom  it 
comes,  you  would  say,"  I  replied.  "  But,  while  the  un- 
avoidable historical  battles  for  truth  are  being  fought, 
the  trusting  soul  in  children  must  not  be  disturbed ;  for 
it  carries  the  truth  in  itself  originally  and  unconsciously, 
and  hence  is  an  ever  freshly  bubbling  fountain  in  the 
world  of  humanity. 

"  The  children  find  in  your  kindergarten,  for  the  first 
years  of  their  lives,  the  first  child-church,  in  which  they 
are  prepared  for  their  religious  life.  But  they  come 
afterwards  into  the  school ;  and  there  the  instruction 
that  is  not  adapted  to  the  mind  of  the  child,  mars,  more 
or  less,  the  good  foundation  that  has  been  laid,  instead 
of  its  being  continued  as  it  should  be,  to  say  nothing  of 
the  injurious  influences  which  at  present,  from  all  sides, 
—  even  from  the  family,  —  are  undermining  the  religious 
consciousness.  You  should  prescribe  the  right  religious 
service  for  schools,  which  must  carry  on  that  which  was 
begun  in  the  kindergarten.  The  form  of  worship  used 
by  adults  is  not  suited  to  childhood ;  and  what  is  called 
divine  service  for  children  in  schools  is  still  worse  for 
them  in  many  cases." 

I  related  to  Froebel  what  I  had  heard  in  one  of  the 
city  schools. 

The  teacher,  after  some  previous  instruction,  said : 
"  How  happy  you  are,  children,  that  you  are  accepted 
in  the  bond  of  Christians !  Not  all  children  are  so 


1 88  REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL. 

happy  as  to  grow  up  in  the  faith  which  alone  makes 
them  blessed.  Do  you  know  what  children  will  not  go 
to  heaven  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  if  they  are  not  con- 
verted ? " 

The  children  answered,  "  It  is  the  Jews,  for  they  cruci- 
fied Christ." 

"  Quite  right,"  said  the  teacher ;  "  only  he  who  believes 
the  Lord  can  go  to  him  in  heaven.  But  now  there  are 
some  other  children  that  live  far  over  the  sea,  in  a  hot 
country  called  Africa.  These  children  cannot  go  to 
heaven  if  they  are  not  first  converted ;  and  do  you 
know  why?" 

"Because  the  heathen  children  are  not  baptized," 
answered  the  children. 

"  Yes,"  said  the  teacher,  "  because  they  are  not  bap- 
tized. How  sad  it  is  for  a  poor  mother  whose  child  has 
died  !  She  cannot  be  consoled  by  thinking  that  her  dear 
child  is  now  in  heaven  with  the  Lord  Jesus." 

And  this  is  called  divine  service  for  children !  But 
even  if,  as  we  will  surely  suppose,  the  above-mentioned 
instance  is  an  exceptional  case,  the  teaching  and  cate- 
chizing that  one  generally  finds  as  a  rule  in  the  religious 
teaching  for  children  is  no  divine  service  for  them ;  for 
that,  above  all  things,  should  awaken  childlike  devotion 
and  piety.  One  need  only  look  at  the  assembled  chil- 
dren to  feel  convinced  that  this  first  requisite  of  religious 
teaching  is  not  found  in  the  majority  of  cases.  It  de- 
pends chiefly  upon  the  personal  character  of  the  con- 
ductor of  the  service  how  it  affects  the  children  ;  but  the 
mere  biblical  stories  of  either  the  Old  or  the  New  Testa- 
ment are  little  suited  to  carry  the  child's  heart  up  in  love 
and  devotion  to  God.  Besides,  the  historical  instruction 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  189 

belongs  especially  to  general  education,  and  should  only 
be  found  occasionally,  as  an  example,  in  the  service  for 
children.  The  latter  should  aim  to  connect  the  inward 
and  the  outer  life  of  the  children  themselves. 

The  church  songs  are  seldom  adapted  to  the  under- 
standing of  the  younger  children.  Notwithstanding  the 
single  cases  in  which  the  conductor  of  the  children's 
service  possesses  the  gift  of  making  an  impression  upon 
their  feelings,  another  method  is  needed  to  reach  the 
desired  end.  The  family,  and  above  all  the  mother  in 
it,  should  awaken  the  religious  feelings  in  the  earliest 
days,  if  the  divine  service  that  is  to  come  later  is  to  find 
the  heart  open.  Froebel's  "  Mother  and  Cosset  Songs  " 
give  suggestions  to  mothers  for  this  purpose  which  should 
not  be  neglected. 

Froebel  expressed  the  deepest  condemnation  of  the 
example  I  related. 

"  As  long  as  mothers,"  said  he,  "  do  not  know  how  to 
administer  the  priestly  office  at  home  for  their  children's 
benefit,  so  long  will  their  piety  suffer.  For  the  earliest 
childhood  formal  worship,  even  connected  with  the  daily 
life  itself,  the  peculiar  life  of  the  child,  must  be  occa- 
sional, and,  as  the  opportunity  occurs,  day  by  day.  Fam- 
ily devotions  and  the  example  of  pious  conduct  in  the 
family  life  are  the  chief  means.  This  our  immediate 
forefathers  understood  better  than  we  do. 

"  The  first  groundwork  of  religious  life  is  love  —  love 
to  God  and  man  —  in  the  bosom  of  the  family.  The 
unifying  of  all  the  circles  of  life,  beginning  with  the 
family,  springs  from  love ;  also  the  love  of  God,  and  the 
reverence  for  all  that  is  highest,  springs  from  love,  which 
is  the  means  of  union  in  the  whole  universe,  and  brings 


IQO          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

out  the  highest  consciousness  of  life  in  the  final  aim. 
Worship,  in  a  child,  is  to  feel  and  practise  love ;  hence 
everything  is  legitimate  which  awakens  or  teaches  love. 
What  is  suggested  for  this  in  the  '  Mother  and  Cosset 
Songs  '  mothers  must  carry  farther  by  their  own  applica- 
tion of  the  principle.  In  the  kindergarten  we  use  the 
same  means  as  are  employed  in  the  established  divine 
service,  — pious  songs,  stories,  and  prayer;  but  these 
must  correspond  to  the  age  of  the  children,  and  must  be 
received  into  the  hearts  we  have  made  practically  sus- 
ceptible by  the  service  to  which  we  have  accustomed 
them.  The  producing  of  this  susceptibility  is  the  great 
point  for  consideration. 

"  The  development  of  the  child  requires  the  same  series 
of  steps  in  the  child  as  the  development  of  the  human 
race,  —  that  is,  it  must  be  done  as  God  himself  has  con- 
ducted the  education  of  the  human  race.  We  must,  on 
the  whole,  while  considering  the  previous  culture,  pro- 
ceed in  the  same  path  in  our  educating.  First,  God  the 
Creator,  who  makes  himself  manifest  in  his  works.  But 
the  history  of  Creation  told  in  Genesis  in  words  cannot 
yet  be  comprehended  by  the  young  child.  Instead  of 
words  he  needs  his  own  experience ;  his  garden-work 
teaches  him  that  the  growth  of  plants  does  not  depend 
upon  himself,  or  upon  human  power,  but  that  an  invisible 
power  governs  it.  This  teaches  him  almost  without  words 
to  find  the  Creator.  Only  a  slight  suggestion  is  needed 
to  awaken  the  heart  of  the  child  to  love  and  thanks  to 
the  Giver  of  all  good  things.  By  pointing  out  God's 
works  while  rambling  through  the  scenes  of  nature,  a 
thousand  opportunities  offer  for  worship.* 

*  See  "  Education  by  Work,"  by  Madame  von  Marenholz-Bulow. 


REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL.  igi 

"  All  that  is  toW  in  Genesis  of  the  history  of  Creation 
is  lived  by  the  child  in  his  kindergarten  education.  He 
learns  to  know  the  peculiarities  and  names  of  the  ani^ 
mals,  to  water  the  ground,  to  take  care  of  plants,  etc., 
and  out  of  all  things  rises  the  thought  of  a  living  Father 
who  creates  and  animates  all.  We  see  this  daily  in  our 
kindergarten.* 

"  The  mother  teaches  the  child  to  pray,  and  also  what 
are  the  claims  and  commands  of  the  Heavenly  Father 
upon  the  child,  and  conscience  awakens.  Then  she  directs 
his  attention  to  the  Christ-child,  and  he  learns  how  to 
know  and  to  love  the  virtues  of  childhood  through  knowl- 
edge of  the  Divine,  ideal  child.  He  is  then  prepared  for 
the  second  revelation,  God-man,  but  chiefly  by  using  and 
cultivating  his  powers  in  acting  according  to  the  com- 
mands of  God. 

"  Outside  of  family  devotion,  the  time  for  Divine  wor- 
ship at  an  appointed  hour  and  in  an  appointed  place,  the 
church,  connected  with  doctrinal  teaching  and  the  history 
of  faith,  comes  at  a  riper  age,  say  the  tenth  year.  But 
even  for  that  age  our  public  worship  is  not  appropriate. 

*  An  example  of  how  logically  this  kind  of  religious  education  works  may 
justly  find  a  place  here.  On  some  opportune  occasion,  a  kindergartner  told 
the  children  that  it  is  the  will  of  God  that  those  who  have  greater  possessions 
than  others  shall  give  those  others  what  they  need.  A  little  girl  asked  her 
companions  if  they  had  apples  at  breakfast-time,  such  as  her  mamma  gave 
to  her,  and  they  replied  that  they  had  not.  When  the  child  was  to  be  taken 
to  the  kindergarten  the  next  day,  she  said  to  her  mother,  "  Mamma,  you 
must  give  me  a  great  many  apples  to-day  for  the  children  in  the  kindergarten. 
Auntie  says  the  dear  God  wishes  it  because  the  children  have  not  any  ap- 
ples." The  request  was  granted  by  the  mother,  and  the  child  divided  the 
apples  among  the  children  in  the  kindergarten,  as  if  it  were  a  matter  of 
course.  There  is  no  difficulty,  if  it  is  done  in  the  right  way,  in  producing 
at  this  early  age  obedience  to  the  commands  of  God,  such  as  "  Love  your 
neighbor  as  yourself,"  and  thus  leading  children  to  practise  religion. 


192          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

We  might  have  a  similar  form,  but  its  contents  should  be 
adapted  to  the  age.  The  instruction  should  have  refer- 
ence to  the  beginning  of  the  unfolding  of  the  intellect ; 
even  the  text  of  Holy  Writ  often  needs  an  explanation 
couched  in  a  childlike  form,  corresponding  to  the  age, 
such  as  is  seldom  found  in  our  churches.  Fanaticism 
and  confessional  disputes  do  not,  of  course,  belong  there 
any  more  than  theological  questions  and  dogmas  that  are 
difficult  to  be  understood.  To  awaken  love  of  God  and 
goodness,  which  expresses  itself  in  acting  out  love  for 
mankind,  is  always  the  most  important  task. 

"The  connection  between  church-life  and  our  every- 
day life,  carrying  out  religious  thinking  into  doing  and 
acting,  having  God  before  our  eyes  in  every-day  life,  is 
not  alone  to  be  taught  to  children  by  words  in  a  church, 
but  outside  of  the  church  by  practising  them.  The  wor- 
ship of  God  is  only  one-sided,  is  only  a  temporary  social 
edification,  which  deserves  not  the  name  of  worship,  if  it 
proves  fruitless  for  the  inward  and  outward  life  of  man. 
This  we  must  impress  upon  our  children. 

"Our  church  festivals  have  lost  their  significance  for 
the  majority  of  men.  We  can  only  give  them  life  again 
when  the  young  come  to  the  understanding  of  them. 
Other  festivals,  for  which  the  present  age  offers  many 
opportunities,  must  be  used  for  religious  elevation,  even 
for  worship  outside  of  the  church. 

"  The  fitting  religious  service  for  children  has  grown 
out  of  the  new  education  of  itself,  without  any  special 
precepts  from  me.  New  forms  of  social  life  correspond 
to  the  new  spirit  which  has  waked  up  in  society;  let 
us  only  awaken  this  spirit  in  our  children,  it  will  work 
creatively  in  this  field  also.  But  in  order  to  do  this,  that 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  193 

dry,  insipid  frame  of  mind  must  be  avoided  which  is  usu- 
ally created  in  children  by  incomprehensible  word-teach- 
ing and  catechizing." 

"  It  seems  to  me,"  I  added,  "  that  for  the  religious  ele- 
vation of  childhood  and  youth  the  beautiful  above  all 
things — art, — must  co-operate.  Music,  architecture,  and 
painting  must  contribute  to  the  elevation  of  mind  in  wor- 
ship, as  they  have  been  used  in  the  Catholic  church. 
The  degeneration  in  religious  art  should  not  have  in- 
duced our  evangelical  church  to  cast  it  out  entirely  as  a 
means  of  devotion. 

"  To  youth  still  in  the  midst  of  the  life  of  the  senses, 
it  is  unquestionably  necessary  that  the  impressions  from 
without  should  be  in  harmony  with  the  feelings  from 
within. 

"The  want  of  art-culture  in  the  masses  works  disturb- 
ingly, in  the  un melodious  church-singing,  for  example, 
and  surely  every  one  is  more  easily  stimulated  to  devo- 
tional feeling  under  a  beautifully  built  Gothic  dome  than 
in  a  white-plastered  village  church. 

"  Here,  the  harmonious  development  of  human  gifts 
from  childhood  up,  striven  for  by  you,  must  bring  a 
reform.  The  artistically  cultivated  senses  of  the  new 
generation,  together  with  the  general  elevation  of  the 
arts,  will  again  restore  pure,  holy  art,  as  is  needed  for  the 
worship  of  God,  and  the  true  artistic  sense  waked  up  in 
the  people  will  know  how  to  select  what  will  serve  for 
devotional  elevation,  and  to  reject  what  awakens  mere 
sensuous  pleasure.  Then  men  will  again  learn  to  under- 
stand that  beauty  and  truth  flow  together  into  one  wher- 
ever each  is  found  in  its  original  purity.  The  harmony 
which  these  two  heavenly  powers,  beauty  and  truth, 


IQ4  REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL. 

reached  in  the  Greek  world,  the  future  will  again  unfold 
in  the  height  of  their  spirituality  through  the  Christian 
idea  developed  in  its  full  purity,  in  just  so  far  as  the  God- 
given  tendencies  of  men  are  led  undisturbed  to  their 
goal.  But  how  long  will  it  yet  be  before  this  goal  can  be 
reached  through  the  indifference  that  now  prevails  upon 
the  subject  ? " 

"  The  more  we  individuals  work,  the  sooner  the  goal 
will  be  reached,"  answered  Froebel ;  "  only  keep  good 
courage  in  the  work." 


CHAPTER     XV. 

VISIT  OF  HERR  BORMANN. 

IN  the  list  of  new-comers  to  the  Baths  of  Liebenstein 
I  found  the  name  of  the  School-Counsellor  Bor- 
mann,  of  Berlin,  and  hoped  with  his  presence  to  see  at 
last  a  Prussian  official  become  more  closely  acquainted 
with  Froebel's  cause. 

Through  my  activity  in  the  cause  at  Berlin  I  was  re- 
peatedly obliged  to  go  through  the  experience  that,  espe- 
cially in  the  circle  of  the  schoolmen,  no  one  troubled 
himself  about  it  or  even  knew  of  its  existence. 

The  political  reaction  that  spread  more  and  more  in 
those  years  impressed  in  that  circle  upon  everything 
reformatory  the  stigma  of  pernicious  innovation  and  a 
lust  for  destruction.  So  much  the  more  important  was 
the  hoped-for  co-operation  of  Herr  Bormann,  on  account 
of  his  office  of  Director  of  the  Berlin  Seminary  for  the 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  195 

preparation  of  female  teachers.  There  are  no  places 
that  can  be  of  more  importance  to  the  dissemination  of 
Froebel's  principles  than  these  institutions,  where  the 
being  of  the  child  and  his  educational  treatment  at  the 
earliest  age  should  form  the  groundwork  for  all  teaching. 

But  alas !  even  now  (twenty-five  years  later)  this  is  not 
the  case,  and  scientific  discipline  and  the  methods  of 
instruction  stand  in  the  foreground,  although  at  present 
the  significance  and  importance  of  the  educational  is  made 
more  and  more  prominent. 

On  the  afternoon  of  that  very  day  Herr  Bormann  was 
in  the  kindergarten  at  Marienthal,  and  expressed  by  the 
most  profound  attention,  as  well  as  by  appreciative  words, 
his  warm  sympathy  and  full  concurrence  in  Froebel's  sys- 
tem of  education.  He  not  only  saw  the  movement-plays, 
but  examined  all  the  play-gifts  and  materials  for  work, 
among  which  those  for  building  particularly  attracted  his 
attention.  He  was  specially  impressed  with  the  prepara- 
tion their  use  gave  for  later  mathematical  study,  as  well 
as  for  the  cultivation  of  the  sense  of  form. 

On  our  way  back  from  Marienthal  to  Liebenstein  he 
could  not  cease  to  express  his  astonishment  at  the  dis- 
coveries of  Froebel's  genius,  and  at  his  deep  knowledge 
of  child-nature. 

"  This  thing  is  of  the  greatest  importance,  and  must  be 
made  known,"  he  said.  "  I  will  write,  while  I  am  here, 
an  article  for  the  Brandenburger  Schulzeitung,  if  you  will 
furnish  me  with  material  for  it." 

The  next  day  Herr  Bormann  called  upon  me  and  took 
away  with  him  notes  and  manuscripts  which  were  to  assist 
him  in  his  work.  He  agreed  with  my  opinions  upon 
Froebel's  method,  and  promised  to  support  my  efforts  for 


1 96  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

the  introduction  of  kindergartens  into  Berlin  with  all  his 
powers.  I  put  into  his  hands  all  the  materials  of  the 
plays  and  occupations,  and  thought  I  might  dare  to 
nourish  the  hope  of  being  able  to  promote  the  cause  in 
Berlin  without  encountering  too  many  difficulties.  The 
article  in  the  Brandenburg  Zeitung,  which  appeared  soon 
after  Herr  Bormann's  departure  from  Liebenstein,  ended 
with  these  words :  "  There  can  be  nothing  more  anti- 
revolutionary  under  the  heavens  nor  ypon  the  earth  than 
Froebel's  educational  system." 

The  article  set  forth  how  in  Froebel's  method,  even  in 
the  play  occupations,  every  opportunity  for  destructive- 
ness  was  removed,  as  every  new  form  was  obtained  by 
transformations  from  the  preceding  one,  but  not  by  over- 
throwing or  destroying  it. 

To  those  penetrated  by  Froebel's  principles  it  must  be 
obvious  how  the  principle,  that  is,  the  recognition  of  life 
developing  itself  organically  as  the  norm  for  the  devel- 
opment of  the  human  organism,  when  made  the  model 
and  guide  of  education,  excludes  all  violent  interference 
and  every  disturbance  of  legitimate  order ;  and,  in  fact, 
scarcely  could  a  more  suitable  means  be  found  to  pre- 
vent the  budding  of  revolutionary  thinking,  and  to  direct 
the  striving  after  natural  organic  development  and  orderly 
and  legitimate  reform,  than  Froebel's  educational  method. 
Certainly  the  application  of  a  given  rule  or  law  must,  by 
the  formative  and  creative  productiveness  of  the  kinder- 
garten pupils,  awaken  their  sense  of  law  and  order,  and 
call  forth  from  the  beginning  an  opposition  to  all  dis- 
orderly and  anarchical  action. 

Froebel  was  made  very  happy  by  Herr  Bormann's 
recognition  and  by  his  article,  which  Bormann  sent  him, 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  197 

and  both  by  writing  and  by  word  of  mouth  he  promoted 
with  joyful  hopes  the  measures  he  had  begun  for  the 
assembling  of  teachers  in  Liebenstein  at  the  end  of 
September.  Diesterweg  and  Middendorff  would  come 
to  it,  and  the  former  thought  he  should  be  there  a  few 
weeks  earlier. 

Neither  Froebel,  therefore,  nor  his  friends,  were  at  this 
time  —  the  end  of  July  —  prepared  for  the  impending 
blow  of  the  prohibition  of  the  kindergartens  in  Prussia. 

Upon  a  journey  to  Fredericksrode  and  Inselberg,  which 
we  took  in  company  with  Froebel  and  his  scholars  just 
after  the  arrival  of  Diesterweg,  Froebel  was  so  happy 
and  even  merry  that  we  all  enjoyed  ourselves  highly,  and 
his  continued  vigorous  activity  seemed  secured. 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

THE  PROHIBITION  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  IN 
PRUSSIA. 

IT  was  on  the  9th  or  loth  of  August  ;.the  dinner  had 
just  been  removed  from  the  table  at  the  castle  of  Al- 
tenstein  where  I  was  visiting,  when  the  Duke  stepped  up 
to  me  with  the  Vossische  Zeitung  in  his  hand,  and  said, 
"  The  Froebel  kindergartens  are  prohibited  in  Prussia." 

At  the  first  moment  I  thought  it  was  a  little  raillery, 
such  as  the  Duke  sometimes  addressed  to  me  about  my 
partiality  for  Froebel's  cause. 

"  You  are  jesting,"  I  replied.  "  How  can  it  be  pos- 
sible?" 


198          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

"  Read,"  said  the  Duke,  handing  me  the  paper.  And 
I  read  the  rescript  of  the  Prussian  government  of  the  yth 
of  August,  1851,  which  forbade  the  kindergartens. 

The  princely  family  were  almost  as  much  surprised  as 
I  was  at  the  official  prohibition  of  kindergartens  as  dan- 
gerous to  society.  No  one  was  able  to  find  any  rational 
ground  for  it,  and  we  agreed  that  there  must  have  been 
some  special  exigency,  and  that  it  was  a  mistake  of  the 
reactionary  measures,  that  were  overstepping  all  limits  at 
that  time. 

Startled  and  disturbed  to  the  greatest  degree,  I  went 
to  see  Froebel,  who  had  already  received  the  astounding 
news  !  He  and  his  wife  were  deeply  shocked,  but  Froe- 
bel was  quiet  and  collected.  The  view  that  there  was 
some  mistake  which  might  yet  be  explained,  and  thus 
lead  to  the  repeal  of  the  prohibition,  was  much  the  more 
predominant  with  him,  because  the  rescript  referred  to 
the  pamphlet  entitled  "  High-Schools  and  Kindergar- 
tens," which  were  designated  as  socialistic  and  atheistic, 
and  referred  to  Carl  Froebel. 

We  considered  what  was  to  be  done  in  regard  to  the 
necessary  explanation,  and  agreed  that  Froebel  should 
write  to  the  Minister  von  Raumer  to  beg  him  to  take  up 
the  case,  and  to  obtain  a  repeal  of  the  unjust  prohibition. 

The  next  afternoon  Froebel  brought  me  the  rough 
draft  of  his  letter  to  the  minister,  that  I  might  read  it 
and  suggest  any  alterations. 

He  expressed  it  as  his  firm  conviction  that  an  examina- 
tion of  his  efforts,  which  he  requested,  would  place  them 
in  the  right  light ;  that  the  confusioTi  of  his  identity  with 
that  of  his  nephew,  the  author  of  the  pamphlet  quoted, 
would  be  seen,  and  that  the  repeal  of  the  prohibition  that 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          199 

had  been  published  would  take  place.  Froebel  also  sent 
some  of  his  own  writings  to  Berlin  with  the  letter. 

The  conviction  that  a  mistake  had  been  made,  and 
that  the  prohibition  would  be  removed,  sustained  Froebel, 
and  left  him  the  hope  which  was  expressed  by  myself 
and  others,  that  this  occasion  would  draw  the  attention 
of  the  public  to  his  cause,  and  bring  out  a  more  general 
recognition  of  it. 

When  the  unexpected  answer  from  the  minister  ar- 
rived, —  "  that  he  must  abide  by  the  prohibition,  inasmuch 
as  the  principles  expressed  could  not  be  assented  to,  and 
in  spite  of  the  confusion  of  persons,  concurrence  with 
that  objectionable  pamphlet  consisted  in  laying  at  the 
foundation  of  the  education  of  children  a  highly  intricate 
theory,"  —  Froebel  first  felt  the  whole  weight  of  the  blow 
which  had  fallen  upon  the  work  of  his  life. 

It  was  clear  that  they  would  not  repeal  an  ordinance 
once  promulgated,  and  would  not  give  the  cause  any 
examination,  but  only  thrust  it  aside.  Froebel's  method 
did  not  coincide  with  the  direction  of  a  morbid  pietism 
carried  to  a  great  extreme,  that  prevailed  at  that  time, 
and  the  education  of  the  people  was  considered  the  most 
dangerous  weapon  in  the  hands  of  the  revolution. 

Froebel's  childlike  faith  in  the  truth  and  justice  of  the 
world  struggled  against  such  a  treatment  of  his  explana- 
tions, and  he  still  thought  there  must  be  means  to  pro- 
duce an  acknowledgment  of  the  value  of  his  ideas  and 
efforts,  even  in  official  circles.  It  is  indeed  so  difficult 
for  a  pure  and  noble  will  and  deepest  convictions  to  be- 
lieve in  indifference,  and  in  intentional  perversion  of  truth 
by  party  hatred. 

These  were  days  of  severe  inward  conflict  for  Froebel, 


200          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

which  consumed  his  very  life-marrow,  but  not  for  a  mo- 
ment was  he  in  doubt  about  his  mission  or  the  value  of 
his  work,  of  whose  future  victory  he  was  immovably  per- 
suaded. 

At  one  time,  with  suppressed  feeling,  he  said,  "  Now 
if  they  will  not  recognize  and  support  my  cause  in  my 
native  country,  I  will  go  to  America,  where  a  new  life  is 
freely  unfolding  itself,  and  a  new  education  of  man  will 
find  a  footing."  This  expression  proves  how  energetic 
he  still  felt. 

Another  time  he  said,  "  I  will  battle  for  my  cause ; 
without  battle,  truth  never  breaks  a  pathway ;  I  must  not 
let  it  be  struck  dead  by  being  shoved  away  silently.  I 
will  apply  directly  to  the  king  of  Prussia ;  he  has  a  sense 
of  the  great  and  noble  in  spite  of  everything,  and  a  mind 
to  appreciate  my  ideas.  You  must  give  my  petition  to 
him  yourself,  Madame  von  Marenholz,  as  soon  as  you 
return  to  Berlin,  and  explain  the  whole  affair  to  him  at 
once." 

He  did  not  speak  of  this  plan  generally,  and  would  not 
let  its  probable  want  of  success  under  present  circum- 
stances weigh  with  him. 

The  letter  which  he  addressed  to  the  king,  to  petition 
for  a  new  examination  of  his  cause,  was  written  with 
touching  simplicity  and  in  truly  childlike  confidence,  as 
was  the  custom  in  earlier  days,  when  the  children  of  the 
land  turned  to  the  father  of  the  land  with  true  reverence. 
Some  changes  and  abbreviations,  chiefly  in  regard  to  the 
form,  seemed  to  me  indispensable,  and  Froebel  allowed 
me  to  make  them.  After  this  was  done  he  said,  on  read- 
ing the  sketch,  "  The  old  man,  as  you  let  me  be  called 
there,  must  not  be  said,  for  years  have  not  made  me  old," 
—  a  naive  expression  for  the  eternal  youth  of  the  spirit ! 


«  REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          2OI 

When  afterward  in  Berlin,  at  an  audience  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,  I  gave  Froebel's  petition  to  the  king,  I 
scarcely  felt  any  confidence,  in  spite  of  his  acceptance  of 
it,  in  the  success  of  the  step.  The  feeling  that  prevailed 
at  the  court  at  that  time  was  too  much  in  opposition  to 
the  hope  expressed  by  Froebel  for  the  renewal  of  human 
society  by  a  correct  education  corresponding  to  the  ac- 
tual stage  of  culture,  to  lead  to  the  desired  result. 

The  assignment  of  the  subject,  on  the  part  of  the  king, 
to  the  Minister  von  Raumer  himself,  which  took  place 
later,  with  the' direction  to  comply  with  the  petition  for 
closer  examination  of  the  cause,  could  only  lead  to  an 
undesirable  issue. 

Although  in  those  days  of  fear  of  whatever  was  new,  ris- 
ing to  madness,  —  a  fear  which  in  every  form  was  a  "  red  " 
spectre,  I  had  found  sufficient  occasions  of  sad  experi- 
ence, and  in  my  advocacy  of  Froebel's  cause  had  run 
the  risk  of  being  myself  taken  for  a  "  red,"  I  was  in 
the  highest  degree  astonished  by  the  views  which  I  came 
to  learn  in  my  conversations  with  the  minister.  I  saw 
that  party  fanaticism  struck  the  mind  with  perfect  blind- 
ness, so  that  the  only  means  of  salvation  offered  against 
the  evils  of  the  time  were  looked  upon  and  thrown  aside 
as  dangerous  poison. 

There  was  nothing  to  be  done  but  to  wait  for  better 
days,  when  the  light  of  reason  should  overcome  the  dark- 
ness that  had  spread  abroad,  and  even  Froebel's  inno- 
cent plays  for  children  should  be  freed  from  the  interdict 
that  had  struck  them  down.  The  explanatory  newspaper 
articles,  coming  from  all  sides,  the  wit  of  the  Kladder- 
adatsch  about  the  supposed  danger  of  the  kindergartens 
with  their  "  three-year-old  demagogues  " ;  praise  of  them 


202  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.    • 

in  places  where  such  institutions  had  been  founded,  sym- 
pathizing expressions  from  pedagogical  authorities,  — 
nothing  could  then  take  the  odium  from  the  cause.  The 
circumstance,  that  in  many  confiscated  letters  of  persons 
politically  compromised,  the  importance  of  kindergartens 
was  mentioned  as  a  new  foundation  for  an  improved  edu- 
cation of  the  people,  was  used  in  official  circles  to  justify 
the  prohibition  as  a  correct  one ;  and  this  fact  must  also 
have  served  with  the  king  to  palliate  the  error  that  had 
occurred. 

The  last  word  of  the  minister  was  :  "  I  shall  never 
allow  the  establishment  of  Froebel's  kindergartens." 

"  But  will  the  authorities  prevent  families  using  Froe- 
bel's materials  of  play  for  their  children  before  they  send 
them  to  school  ? "  I  inquired. 

"  No,  that  is  not  in  our  power,"  was  the  answer. 

"  Now,  then,"  said  I,  "  I  hope  the  founding  of  family 
kindergartens  will  afford  you  the  proof  of  how  unjustly 
the  cause  has  been  judged,  which,  in  spite  of  its  inoffen- 
siveness,  holds  within  itself  a  deep  meaning." 

And  a  family  kindergarten,  the  first  institution  of  that 
kind,  was  opened  in  the  course  of  that  year  by  our  little 
society  in  Berlin,  and  given  into  the  charge  of  a  pupil  of 
Froebel's,  Fraulein  Erdmann.  But  much  as  the  spread  of 
this  blessed  influence  of  the  kindergartens  was  hindered 
and  in  part  prevented  by  the  prohibition,  yet  the  subse- 
quent more  rapid  diffusion  of  them  might  be  due  to  the 
very  prohibition  itself.  The  cause  was  torn  from  its  ob- 
scurity, and  thereby  gained  an  importance  which  it  might 
not  have  gained  otherwise.  Even  evil  must  serve  the 
good. 

The  proscription  of  the  government  made  the  cause 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  203 

now  the  darling  of  the  party  of  the  extreme  liberals,  as 
such.  Therefore  for  a  long  time  it  appeared  in  a  false 
light  and  appears  so  still,  even  at  the  present  time,  with 
regard  to  its  still  quite  misunderstood  religious  tendency. 

Here  again  something  has  been  thrown  away  whose 
right  use  is  suited  as  nothing  else  is  to  work  against  irre- 
ligion  by  an  early  religious  groundwork  laid  in  the  heart 
of  the  child.  Thus  is  the  cause  of  the  new  education 
more  or  less  associated  in  the  public  mind  with  radical- 
ism, although  it  has  not  the  least  agreement  with  any 
radical  tendency. 

In  1860  there  was  a  public  abrogation  of  the  prohibi- 
tion of  the  innocent  kindergartens,  but  the  mistrust 
roused  against  it  in  many  quarters  has  never  been  en- 
tirely removed.  The  repeal  was  to  me  a  greater  satisfac- 
tion because  my  unremitting  endeavors,  particularly  with 
the  minister  of  the  "  new  era,"  had  helped  to  bring  it 
about. 

The  great  joy  felt  by  the  votaries  of  the  cause  at  this 
late  justification  of  it  was,  however,  shadowed  by  the 
fact  that  Froebel  was  no  longer  alive  to  enjoy  the  triumph 
of  the  expiation. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

VISIT   OF   VARNHAGEN   VON  ENSE. 

T)  EFORE  Froebel  had  received  the  adverse  decision 
U  upon  his  last  petition,  and  was  again  and  more 
deeply  grieved  by  it,  some  bright  sunbeams  had  pene- 
trated the  oppressive  atmosphere  of  the  Marienthal  and 


204          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

Liebenstein  circles.  The  visits  of  many  distinguished 
persons  brought  him  recognition  and  concurrence  ;  and 
there  occurred  in  September  of  that  year  the  long- 
prepared  contention  of  teachers,  to  whose  judgment 
the  public  prohibition  gave  enhanced  significance. 

Among  other  well-known  persons  living  at  that  time 
in  Berlin,  I  had  excited  the  interest  of  Varnhagen  von 
Ense  for  Froebel's  efforts,  which  were  often  a  subject  of 
discussion  at  our  interviews. 

The  increasing  discouragement  which  took  possession 
of  the  liberal  thinkers  in  that  time  of  reaction,  after  the 
sad  experiences  which  followed  the  hopes  of  1848,  which 
showed  that  the  most  ideal  efforts  for  political  reform 
are  wrecked  upon  the  selfishness,  coarseness,  and  rough- 
ness of  the  masses,  together  with  the  irritation  which  was 
produced  by  those  measures  of  the  authorities  that  ob- 
structed all  progress  and  all  enlightenment,  turned  the 
minds  of  many  thinkers  to  the  necessity  of  a  better  edu- 
cation of  the  people.  Diesterweg's  influence  and  his 
demands  in  this  regard,  which  had  made  him  a  martyr 
in  his  post  of  usefulness,  had  led  some  politicians  who 
honored  his  public-spirited  activity  to  regard  the  field  of 
education  as  the  one  above  all  others  in  which  was  to 
be  gained  the  right  foundation  for  universal  reform  and 
amelioration  of  morals. 

When  I  once  expressed  to  Varnhagen  that  the  true 
friends  of  the  people  —  the  liberals  in  the  best  sense  of 
the  word  —  ought  to  turn  their  eyes,  during  this  time  of 
reactionary  measures,  to  other  fields  of  action  besides  the 
political  one,  and  especially  to  look  at  Froebel's  work,  he 
said  :  "  We  will  not  quarrel  about  whether  the  hen  or  the 
egg  came  first,  but  in  the  present  circumstance  it  is  not 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          2O$ 

to  be  thought  of  to  bring  forward  anything  new  in  any 
field  whatever.  Do  not  deceive  yourself;  we  are  already 
in  the  beginning  of  things  which  are  to  come.  After 
the  violent  gagging  which  is  now  going  on,  things  will 
first  grow  much  worse.  It  must  be  so ;  no  new  epoch 
is  born  without  storm  and  misery.  The  tatterdemalion 
from  above  wakes  up  the  tatterdemalion  from  below, 
and  the  wild  beast  in  humanity  will  first  exhibit  itself. 
It  is  a  blessed  thought  to  me  that  at  my  years  I  shall 
not  have  to  live  through  these  coming  battles." 

"  But,"  I  rejoined,  "  after  the  storm  comes  better 
weather.  Shall  we  not  strew  the  seed  which  will  grow 
then,  when  its  fruit  is  to  be  the  condition  for  life  (Lebens 
bedingung)  ? " 

"Indeed  we  must,"  said  Varnhagen.  "You  know  I 
believe  undoubtingly  in  the  progress  of  humanity.  The 
good  and  true  will  and  must  conquer,  and  even  what  is 
evil  must  smooth  the  way  for  them.  But  the  historical 
Augaean  stable  is  not  so  quickly  cleansed  as  you  think. 
It  will  be  longer  than  I  feared  before  that  is  done.  I 
see  that  in  the  circumstances  of  to-day.  But  it  shall  not 
on  that  account  be  said  that  all  good,  whatever  name  it 
takes,  is  not  to  be  furthered  to  the  best  of  our  ability. 
Even  the  better  education  —  the  real  education  —  of  the 
people  (which  we  have  not  yet)  must  be  silently  prepared 
for,  without  the  help  of  the  ruling  powers,  —  indeed, 
against  their  will.  Otherwise  every  new  seed  will  be 
trodden  under  foot." 

"  But,"  said  I,  "  in  the  circle  of  the  rulers,  and  amid 
their  wealth  of  influence,  are  there  no  minds  which  have 
the  insight  to  perceive  that  the  universal  and  especially 
the  moral  culture  of  the  people,  in  the  most  various 


206         REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

degrees,  is  the  only  radical  means  against  anarchy  and 
destruction  ? " 

"  No,  not  at  present,  in  those  benighted  circles  where 
imbecility  hinders  all  free  outlook,"  replied  Varnhagen. 
"  Whom  the  dear  God  will  ruin  he  strikes  blind.  As  yet 
I  cannot  judge,"  he  continued,  "  how  far  Froebel's  educa- 
tional idea  is  calculated  to  work  determinately  upon  the 
general  human  development.  After  what  you  have  told 
me  of  it,  I  might  assume  that  such  importance  does  be- 
long to  it ;  but  see  how  slowly  and  unobservedly  the 
earlier  educational  systems  broke  their  way,  although 
every  votary  of  each  thought  the  salvation  of  the  world 
depended  upon  it,  and  fought  for  it  with  enthusiasm. 
What  Froebel  wishes  to  effect  lies  in  the  far  future,  since 
his  education  has  to  do  especially  with  the  new-born 
generation,  and  through  it  with  the  following  ones.  A 
consideration  of  our  posterity  is  the  holiest  duty;  but 
the  present  time  has  so  much  to  do  for  itself,  the  nearest 
future  is  so  shrouded  in  darkness,  that  little  power  and 
time  are  left  for  educational  improvements.  When  your 
house  is  burning  over  your  head,  you  do  not  think  of  the 
improvement  of  the  interior.  Therefore  you  must  not 
expect  to  awaken  a  general  enthusiasm  for  the  cause  for 
which  you  work  enthusiastically  yourself." 

"All  that  is  quite  true,"  I  said ;  "and  I  do  not  in  the 
least  expect  there  will  be  a  general  enthusiasm  for  a 
thing  whose  whole  importance  can  never  be  seen  but  by 
a  few.  I  know  also  that  '  the  presiding  spirit  is  not  in 
haste,'  as  Hegel  says.  But  I  believe  a  new  idea  must 
strike  fire,  if  only  in  individuals.  Froebel's  idea  requires 
our  sex  —  the  activity  of  women  —  for  its  success.  Can 
they  lay  their  hands  in  their  laps  in  a  time  of  fermenta- 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  2O7 

tion  and  transition  to  new  social  forms,  and  look  idly 
upon  the  general  conflict  ?  That  cannot  and  must  not 
be ;  and  theje  are  signs  enough  at  hand  to  proclaim  that 
there  is  a  fermenting  and  working  in  women's  souls  now. 
The  perverse  and  ridiculous  desires  for  the  '  emancipation 
of  women '  in  our  time,  together  with  their  false  preten- 
sions, testify  to  the  aberration  of  newly  awakened  powers. 
As  soon  as  these  are  led  into  the  right  path,  the  disorder 
will  cease ;  the  pretensions  which  genuine  worth  never 
makes  will  be  silenced.  All  eyes  will  then  be  turned  to 
the  right  way,  —  that  is,  to  the  path  pointed  out  by  God 
and  nature ;  but  the  voice  of  manly  authority  must 
direct. 

"On  that  account,  I  ask  the  men  of  mind  whom  I 
meet  to  accept  our  educational  cause,  and  to  bring 
Froebel's  idea  into  recognition.  Means  are  offered  by 
it  for  the  redemption  of  the  female  mind,  since  the  un- 
fettering of  the  mental  powers  is  demanded  for  this  work 
in  a  way  that  has  never  been  tried.  The  very  highest 
demand  of  our  time  upon  women  is  to  work  at  this  prob- 
lem of  a*ew  education  :  this  is  their  appointed  part  in 
the  present  struggle  for  culture. 

"  If  Rahel  were  living,  she  would  do  me  justice ;  she 
would  help  me  with  her  deep  insight  into  human  nature, 
her  great  love  of  childhood.  Her  words,  '  Not  the  culti- 
vated insight  so  much  as  the  cultivated  will  is  the  condi- 
tion required  for  moral  worth,'  express  in  brief  what 
Froebel's  education  is  specially  striving  for, — the  perfect 
development  of  human  energy." 

The  reference  to  Rahel  immediately  called  out  deep 
emotion  in  Varnhagen.  He  said,  with  increased  feeling : 
"  I  must  become  acquainted  with  your  Froebel ;  and? 


208          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

so  far  as  I  can,  I  will  say  the  word  for  him.  In 
the  coming  summer,  I  will  take  my  vacation  in  Thu- 
ringia  and  go  to  Liebenstein,  that  you  may  take  me  to 
him." 

And  so  it  was.  At  the  end  of  August,  1851,  Varnha- 
gen  came  to  Liebenstein  with  Fraulein  Assing  and  old 
Dora. 

This  visit  was  greeted  with  joy  by  the  Princess  Amely 
as  well  as  by  Froebel,  to  both  of  whom  I  had  commu- 
nicated Varnhagen's  intention.  The  Princess  Amely 
longed,  with  the  vivacity  and  eagerness  of  eighteen 
years,  for  intercourse  with  masculine  minds,  and  fol- 
lowed the  movements  of  the  time  with  ardent  interest. 

"  You  will  bring  Herr  von  Varnhagen  immediately  to 
us  when  he  arrives,"  she  exclaimed,  when  we  met  at  tea 
at  the  castle,  on  the  evening  before  his  arrival. 

When  I  informed  Varnhagen  of  this  invitation,  he  said, 
"  We  must  go  to  Froebel  first."  And  we  went,  on  the 
afternoon  of  the  same  day  that  he  arrived. 

We  found  the  pupils  with  some  children  in  front  of 
the  Marienthal  house,  playing  "  Would  you  know  how 
does  the  farmer  ? "  The  play  pleased  Varnhagen,  who 
hummed  the  melody  to  himself  for  a  long  time  after- 
wards. Froebel's  play-gifts  were  spread  out  upon  the 
long  table,  and  were  thus  already  at  hand,  after  the  first 
greeting,  for  an  explanation  of  the  method. 

After  Froebel  had  expressed  the  thought  that  "  only 
the  history  of  the  human  race  could  offer  the  right  guide 
for  studying  the  nature  of  the  mind,  and  for  guiding 
it  correctly  from  childhood  up,"  he  went  on  to  say : 
"Apples  were  given  in  Paradise  to  the  childhood  of 
humanity,  as  the  earliest  means  of  knowledge.  I  also 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.  209 

have  apples  here  for  the  same  purpose,  —  the  balls  of 
the  first  gift,  clothed  in  rainbow  colors,  but  not  of  a  kind 
to  be  eaten. 

"  In  the  beginning  of  human  culture,  when  experience 
had  to  be  of  a  palpable  nature,  and  the  pleasure  of  the 
senses  and  its  results  were  to  be  tasted  materially  and 
experienced  practically,  the  apples  had  to  be  eaten. 
That  is  no  longer  necessary.  We  can  spare  our  children 
the  details  of  experiments  which  mankind  has  passed 
through,  if  we  educate  them  aright.  They  must  indeed 
become  wise  through  their  own  experience,  but  they  need 
less  rough  experience ;  they  no  longer  need  to  spoil  their 
stomachs  with  sour  apples.  These  balls  are,  as  it  were, 
ideal  apples  which  satisfy  the  higher  needs  of  nourish- 
ment felt  by  the  mind,  and  not  by  the  palate,  and  impress 
the  mind  through  the  eyes." 

Varnhagen  laughed  heartily,  and  said,  "  Do  you  mean 
that  you  have  to  offer  to  human  nature,  developed  and 
refined  by  thousands  of  years  of  culture,  the  means  used 
for  the  development  of  the  mind  in  the  beginning  of  its 
existence  ? " 

"  That  is  it,"  answered  Froebel ;  "  we  may  restrain  the 
sins  which  spring  from  the  animal  appetites  when  we 
direct  the  regards  of  the  child  to  something  that  satisfies 
his  higher  ideal  or  spiritual  wants, — wants,  which  he  as 
well  as  they  bring  into  the  world  with  him,  and  which 
crave  satisfaction  from  the  earliest  infancy  as  much  as 
the  body  desires  nourishment. 

"The  spiritual  unconsciousness  into  which  the  child 
is  born  is  changing  into  conscious  being  from  the  first 
moment  of  life.  The  incentives  which  are  needed  for 
awakening  the  powers  of  the  soul  go  out  from  the  exter- 


210  REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

nal  world ;  and  these  must  not  be  left  to  chance  at  this 
stage  of  human  development.  Chance  is  blind ;  educa- 
tion is  to  act  with  its  eyes  open.  It  was  necessary  to 
bring  light  upon  the  great  chaos  in  the  beginning  of  Cre- 
ation, and  God  said,  '  Let  there  be  light ! '  Chaos  still 
encompasses  every  human  eye  that  wakes  into  life,  for  a 
chaotic  world  veiled  in  darkness  surrounds  the  new-born 
child.  The  task  of  education  is  to  bring  light  into  this 
darkness,  order  into  this  chaos. 

"  But  how  shall  this  be  done  ?  The  senses  are  to  be 
awakened  as  the  organs  of  the  mind,  and  not  as  the 
organs  of  mere  sensuous  pleasure,  or  of  mere  desires,  as 
in  the  animals.  Yet  that  is  what  happens  if  we  aim  at 
bodily  nourishment  alone  without  giving  food  to  the 
mind.  This  need  never  happen  to  the  child  of  the  pres- 
ent day. 

"  Now  I  wish  to  find  the  right  forms  for  awakening  the 
higher  senses  of  the  child.  I  must  ask  the  whole  organ- 
ism of  creation,  the  whole  universe,  for  them.  I  must 
go  back  from  the  particular  to  the  general,  which  con- 
tains the  particular,  and  furnishes  the  typical  or  funda- 
mental form  for  the  manifold  phenomena  of  creation. 
Then  come  the  properties  which  are  common  to  all 
things,  and  without  which  there  is  nothing  knowable.  I 
must  seek  objects  in  which  the  universal  properties  of 
form,  color,  size,  weight,  movement,  etc.,  are  to  be  per- 
ceived one  by  one,  and  strikingly  shown. 

"  For  this  purpose  I  have  not  only  forms  for  the  child's 
eyes,  which  are  to  make  him  acquainted  with  the  outward 
world  that  surrounds  him ;  I  have  symbols  which  unlock 
his  soul  for  the  thought  or  spirit  which  is  innate  in  every- 
thing that  has  come  out  of  God's  creative  mind.  If  the 


REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL.  211 

ripened  mind  is  to  know  and  understand  this  thought, 
its  embodied  image  must  make 'an  impression  upon  the 
yet  unconscious  soul  of  the  child,  and  leave  behind  it 
forms  which  can  serve  as  analogies  to  the  intellectual 
ordering  of  things. 

"  What  symbol  does  my  ball  offer  to  the  child  ?  That 
cf  unity.  Out  of  unity  as  form  proceed  all  phenomena, 
whether  it  is  an  original  cell  or  a  seed.  And  everything 
must  in  its  development  strive  again  for  unity  or  com- 
pleteness ;  —  the  flowers  and  the  fruits,  the  heavenly 
bodies  and  the  organs  of  the  human  body  (whose  head 
is  in  the  form  of  the  ball),  all  proceed  according  to  the 
law  of  the  sphere.  Unity  as  spirit,  absolute  unity,  is 
God  himself;  the  universal  spirit  goes  forth  out  of  the 
All  and  returns  back  to  the  All.  In  God  '  we  live  and 
move  and  have  our  being.'  We  are  spirit  out  of  God's 
spirit,  we  are  children  of  God,  and  therefore  capable  of 
finding  and  recognizing  in  all  the  works  of  God,  within 
certain  limits,  our  own  mind  and  God's  mind. 

"  Unity !  To  know  God  is  to  know  the  highest,  is  the 
chief  end  of  all  knowledge,  and  at  the  same  time  is  the  be- 
ginning of  all  knowledge.  The  beginning  must  answer 
to  the  end  as  the  end  (the  result)  must  answer  to  the 
beginning,  if  completeness  is  to  be  reached.  The  begin- 
ning of  the  development  of  mind  is  unconscious  being, 
the  end  is  conscious  being.  These  opposites  are  con- 
ditional upon  each  other  (they  are  relative,  not  absolute)  ; 
the  steps  of  the  whole  development,  or  growing  conscious- 
ness, lie  between  and  unite  beginning  and  end,  that  is,  the 
unconscious  being  of  the  child  and  the  conscious  being 
of  the  mature  man.  Therefore  must  the  perceptions  of 
unconscious  childhood  and  the  conceptions  and  ideas  of 


212  REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

the  conscious  mind  of  man  also  correspond.  Do  you 
agree  with  me  ? " 

Varnhagen  expressed  his  assent. 

"  Am  I  not  right,  then,  when  from  the  very  beginning 
I  create  such  impressions  upon  the  child's  mind  through 
material  or  concrete  things,  which,  according  to  the  anal- 
ogy that  prevails  in  the  universe  between  spirit  and  body 
and  between  thought  and  its  embodiment,  are  the  proto- 
types of  conceptions  and  ideas  in  the  spiritual  order  of 
things  ? 

"The  child's  mind  unconsciously  seeks,  must  seek, 
according  to  its  organization,  for  the  conditions  upon 
which  its  development  depends.  He  finds  these  con- 
ditions, and  by  degrees  fulfils  them  byJhe  help  of  the 
things  surrounding  him ;  he  receives  impressions  from 
the  properties  of  things  when  his  eye  perceives  in  them 
form,  color,  size,  number,  movement,  etc.  But  the  great 
abundance  of  these  things  which  present  themselves 
chaotically  to  his  unpractised  senses  makes  the  earliest 
work  of  the  human  soul  a  difficult  one,  and  the  impres- 
sions received  are  therefore  indefinite  and  confused. 
Now  what  else  is  the  education  of  the  child's  mind  from 
the  beginning  than  to  make  easier  to  it  the  task  laid  upon 
it,  the  perception  of  single  things  ? 

"  The  greater  the  progress  of  culture,  the  more  various 
and  numerous  are  the  particulars  of  the  things  around 
us,  —  the  more  difficult  the  perception  and  knowledge  of 
them  becomes, — the  greater  is  the  task  of  individuals 
in  order  to  attain  to  knowledge  and  power.  Hence  bet- 
ter and  earlier  preparation  is  necessary.  This  is  obtained 
when  the  development  of  the  mind  is  spared  from  indi- 
rect ways,  when  the  senses  as  organs  of  the  mind  are  fur- 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          213 

nished  from  the  beginning  with  a  guide  to  knowing,  and 
when  the  single  things  out  of  the  mass  come  before  the 
eyes.  And  surely  those  things  which  produce  the  most 
significant  and  decided  impression  of  common  properties 
must  be  chosen  for  this  purpose  in  an  orderly  manner. 

"  If  the  later  instruction  must  select,  arrange,  and  dis- 
pose its  material,  then  even  much  more  carefully  is  it 
necessary  to  do  it  for  these  first  perceptions  of  the  child, 
which  are  to  be  the  source  and  foundation  of  all  later 
reception  and  learning. 

"Only  those  who  accept  these  thoughts  as  correct 
ones  can  understand  what  is  the  aim  of  my  educational 
method." 

"  But  how  do  you  know,"  said  Varnhagen,  "  that  the 
right  beginning  has  been  found,  and  that  the  child's  mind 
has  not  been  forced  to  something  foreign  to  it  which  works 
disturbingly  rather  than  usefully ;  perhaps,  indeed,  awaken- 
ing it  too  early,  and  therefore  harmfully  ? " 

"That  is  just  what  I  wish  to  prevent,  the  artificial 
ripening  of  the  fruit  from  which  our  generation  is  now 
suffering  in  the  highest  degree,"  answered  Froebel,  with 
eagerness.  "  Do  you  not  understand  that  it  is  not 
in  our  power  to  constrain  the  yet  unconscious  mind? 
The  nursling  does  not  yet  understand  words  ;  how  then 
shall  I  force  him  to  look  at  my  balls  or  any  other  object? 
He  looks  around  and  receives  impressions  from  what  he 
sees  repeatedly.  Things  impress  themselves  on  his  power 
of  conception  gradually ;  not,  perhaps,  in  their  totality  and 
their  parts,  but  in  their  universality,  by  their  properties. 
That  is  a  process  which  we  can  neither  prevent  nor  bring 
about.  It  is  the  way  designated  by  Nature  herself  to 
promote  the  development  of  the  mental  tendencies. 


214          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

"  Now  can  this  process  be  disturbed  by  having  the 
unconditional  beginning  of  all  knowing,  both  for  the  in- 
stinct of  the  unconscious  being  and  for  the  conscious  and 
thinking  mind,  presented  in  a  distinct  form  and  sepa- 
rately, instead  of  being  left  in  the  confusion  of  the  mani- 
foldness  of  things  ?  Unity  is  always  the  beginning.  I 
must  have  the  perception  of  one  before  I  can  say  two ; 
and  an  ordered  series  of  individualities  is  more  easily 
counted  than  a  confused  mass  of  individualities. 

"  For  example,  will  not  the  child's  eye  perceive  colors 
more  easily  if  he  looks  at  the  three  primary  colors  of  my 
balls  one  after  the  other,  and  then  at  the  combinations  of 
colors  made  by  the  union  of  any  two  primary  colors  (as  is 
shown  here  by  the  green  ball  between  the  blue  and  the 
yellow),  than  if  it  is  forced  to  discern  colors  in  the  many- 
tinted  objects  around  him,  in  disorderly  confusion  ? 

"  The  necessity  of  simplifying  the  material  of  study  in 
schools,  in  order  to  make  it  easier  for  the  children  to 
learn,  to  bring  more  clearness  into  the  subjects  of  the 
instruction  and  therefore  into  their  heads,  is  acknowl- 
edged. But  the  mind  of  the  new-born  child  does  not 
wait  till  the  school  period  to  use  its  organs  of  sense,  and 
to  perceive  things  that  immediately  surround  it.  The 
development  of  the  mental  powers  begins  with  the  first 
drawing  of  the  breath  upon  earth,  and  ends  with  the  last, 
and  the  natural  and  orderly  support  of  this  development 
is  education. 

"  Our  mind  is  an  organism  at  whose  command  are  a 
multitude  of  organs  by  which  it  makes  itself  acquainted 
with  life.  These  organs  ripen  and  unfold  themselves 
gradually  like  other  material  organisms,  and  their  more 
or  less  complete  unfolding  depends  upon  conditions  that 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          215 

correspond  to  their  nature.  These  conditions  I  think 
I  have  found.  They  are  chiefly  those  of  development : 
first  those  of  cosmic  development  and  then  the  fulfilling 
of  the  need  of  the  human  mind  to  make  its  inward  na- 
ture objective  in  the  material  world,  and  to  represent  it 
in  and  by  material." 

"  That  is  to  say,"  I  interrupted,  "  imitating  God's  world 
in  miniature  so  to  organize  material  that  it  satisfies  the 
human  need  (the  work  of  practical  life)  or  realizes  a 
thought  of  beauty  (art),  or  facilitates  knowledge  (sci- 
ence), and  thus  forms  in  the  actual  that  which  makes  the 
subject-matter  of  human  life,  and  all  this  according  to 
God's  law  of  formation,  or  the  laws  of  creation." 

"  Yes,  quite  right,"  said  Froebel,  and  continued  :  "  peo- 
ple may  try  as  much  as  they  please,  the  child's  mind 
unfolds  and  ripens  to  the  understanding  of  words  only 
by  and  through  concrete  things,  but  they  must  be  used 
consciously  if  the  aim  is  education.  Nothing  —  abso- 
lutely nothing  —  in  the  education  of  man  must  be  left  to 
mere  accident.  But  the  child  must  reproduce  with  mat- 
ter what  he  has.  received  into  himself  from  the  eternal 
world,  in  order  to  understand  it.  The  child,  that  is,  the  yet 
undeveloped  being,  needs  form  (Bild\  and  form  created 
by  itself,  in  order  to  comprehend  thought,  or  the  intellec- 
tual, in  order  later  to  receive  it  '  in  spirit  and  in  truth.'" 

Varnhagen  replied  :  "  The  thought  of  such  a  discipline 
of  the  human  mind  in  the  unconscious  stage  of  life  is 
very  illuminating  to  me.  It  appears  to  me  to  be  of  great 
significance,  even  though  its  carrying  out  is  not  perfectly 
clear  to  me.  I  have  already  been  in  some  degree  ini- 
tiated into  your  guiding  principles  by  Madame  von  Maren- 
holz,  and  have  seen  some  of  your  materials  ;  and  I  con- 


2l6  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

cur  in  the  fullest  measure  with  all  that  I  have  seen.  The 
discoveries  of  your  genius  claim  my  entire  admiration. 
But  I  seek  in  vain  for  a  reason  for  the  prohibition  of  the 
kindergartens  by  the  government.  Even  the  mad  and 
childish  fear  of  all  popular  education,  as  bringing  danger 
and  destruction,  cannot  be  taken  as  a  reason.  Your  ed- 
ucation has  to  do  with  the  last  born  generation,  who  can- 
not possibly  cut  off  the  heads  of  the  present,  and  these 
men  do  not  trouble  themselves  about  the  distant  future. 
The  prohibition  is  indeed  an  incomparable  folly !  But 
you  need  not  fear ;  the  time  of  recognition  will  come, 
and  all  the  sooner  precisely  by  means  of  this  prohibition. 
Persecution  will  exalt  your  cause,  and  the  more  so,  the 
more  foolish  and  groundless  persecution  it  is.  They  un- 
dertook, by  it,  to  give  a  thrust  to  the  rising  socialistic 
ideas." 

It  was  time  to  break  up,  as  we  were  to  go  to  the 
Duchess  Ida's  to  tea,  so  the  continuation  of  Froebel's 
remarks  was  postponed  until  the  next  afternoon,  when  he 
promised  to  come  to  Liebenstein. 

"  That  is  a  new  Pestalozzi,"  said  Varnhagen ;  "  he 
lives  and  moves  in  his  cause,  and  knows  nothing  of  per- 
sonal feeling.  He  is  a  peculiar  phenomenon,  especially 
in  our  time,  so  completely  concentrated  in  himself,  so 
free  from  all  the  influences  ofrthe  world.  Truly  a  re- 
markable man  ! " 

He  spoke  in  the  evening  to  the  Duchess  also,  of  the 
impression  he  had  received,  and  found  her  in  full  accord 
with  the  good  hopes  he  connected  with  Froebel's  educa- 
tional method.  The  liberal  expressions  of  my  friend, 
the  sensible  and  lovely  Princess  Amely,  pleased  Varn- 
hagen exceedingly,  and  he  said,  "Frau  von  Marenholz 
was  not  altogether  innocent  of  that" 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          217 

On  the  next  morning  we  visited  the  Liebenstein  kin- 
dergarten, where  Varnhagen  watched  all  the  plays  and 
work  of  the  children  for  more  than  an  hour.  He  said, 
among  other  things,  "  Here  also  the  meaning  and  spirit 
of  the  method  must  work  by  degrees  through  the  rough 
material.  It  is  in  the  kindergarten  as  in  the  history  of 
nations  and  their  culture." 

"Yes,  indeed,"  I  replied ;  "the  spirit  of  the  thing  can  only 
be  expressed  completely  by  its  praxis  when  this  is  really 
comprehended  by  the  conductor  of  the  kindergarten  ; 
and  yet  the  method  works  in  its  own  way  fully  in  cor- 
respondence with  the  child's  nature  by  intuition,  even 
without  that!  The  spirit  of  the  child's  action  is. trans- 
formed into  flesh  and  blood,  because  the  action  corre- 
sponds to  the  inner  unconscious  demands.  This  ever- 
repeated  forming  of  parts  into  a  whole,  which  hovers 
before  the  child's  fancy,  this  ordering  and  creating,  infal- 
libly awakens  the  sense  of  organizing.  This  being  fun- 
damentally occupied  with  one  and  the  same  objective 
action  excites  to  investigation ;  and  the  impulse  after 
truth,  innate  in  man,  must  awake  early,  if  the  child  comes 
to  the  knowledge  of  the  elementary  truths  of  cause  and 
effect  through  his  own  experience  in  the  handling  of  ma- 
terial things,  even  if  at  first  only  by  small  physical  experi- 
ments, —  such  as  this  little  one  is  making,  for  example, 
with  his  blocks,  which  he  has  not  placed  regularly  upon 
each  other,  but  askew,  so  that  his  building  falls  over. 

"  It  is  most  desirable  that  this  view  should  make  its 
way,  —  namely,  that  this  impulse  of  seeking  after  truth  is 
the  only  true  foundation  of  real  intellectual  culture.  Only 
the  love  of  truth  can  make  knowledge  living  and  fruit- 
ful which  otherwise  remains  dead.  Without  an  earnest 


2l8          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

love  of  truth  there  can  be  no  religion,  which  each  makes 
his  own  and  in  his  own  way  when  he  elaborates  what  is 
given  to  him  as  an  endowment,  and  transmutes  it  into 
his  own  spiritual  property." 

"  Yes ! "  said  Varnhagen,  "  if  we  had  but  progressed  so 
far !  But  I  freely  admit  that  correct  education  brings  us 
nearer  to  this  still  very  distant  goal.  It  is  a  condition 
of  all  progress  that  blind  obedience  to  authority  become 
a  seeing  one,  and  that  every  one  should  arrive  at  a  degree, 
at  least,  of  intellectual  independence.  The  light  of  the 
spirit  has  illuminated  only  the  smallest  part  of  our  earth- 
ball,  and  even  in  this  part  there  is  still  a  dark  mass 
which  has  not  yet  answered  the  call,  'Let  there  be 
light ! ' " 

>'  I  think  there  is  no  better  means,"  was  my  reply,  "  to 
get  rid  of  the  eclipse  of  sun  and  moon  in  human  history 
than  a  just  and  correct  human  education." 

Varnhagen  was  especially  amused  by  a  little  four-year- 
old  girl  who,  with  childlike  earnestness  and  shining  eyes, 
always  pressed  before  the  others  when  there  was  anything 
to  show  or  to  explain. 

"  These  social  games  really  give  play  to  the  individual 
peculiarities,"  said  Varnhagen  ;  "  that  little  thing  will 
make  a  perfect  coquette.  She  thinks  everything  re- 
volves about  herself." 

"  Yes,"  said  I ;  "in  such  social  conditions  every  too- 
sharply  prominent  peculiarity,  that  is,  every  fault,  receives 
a  check  and  is  reduced  to  its  proper  limits,  but  without 
destroying  the  peculiarity  in  its  development.  People 
cannot  believe  how  much  the  education  of  children, 
even  at  this  age,  is  facilitated  by  a  social  condition  thus 
controlled,  and  requiring  the  performance  of  duties." 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  2 19 

Varnhagen  was  so  pleased  with  his  view  of  the  kinder- 
garten that  he  begged  me  to  give  a  present,  in  his  name, 
to  the  kindergarten  teacher,  whose  "  zeal  and  gentle 
manners  touched  "  him,  as  he  said. 

Madame  Froebel  also  came  in  and  answered  some  of 
his  questions  about  the  method. 

As  we  were  driving,  in  the  afternoon,  through  the 
"  grinding-grounds "  near  the  village  of  Steinbach,  and 
Varnhagen  saw  the  wretched  existence  of  the  families  of 
the  knife-grinders,  he  said  :  "  Your  kindergarten,  through 
the  preparation  it  affords  for  all  kinds  of  work,  and 
through  its  power  of  promoting  activity,  would  after  a 
time  make  possible  an  easier  and  better  mode  of  gaining 
a  livelihood  than  this,  and  thus  be  the  best  remedy  for 
poverty  and  misery." 

Towards  evening  Froebel  came  to  Liebenstein  and 
took  up  again  the  subject  of  his  method.  Afterwards  we 
had  a  long  talk  about  many  other  things. 

Varnhagen  said  :  "  I  share  your  theory  of  regarding 
the  universe  from  the  point  of  view  of  an  uninterrupted 
organic  development;  and  I  look  upon  the  history  of 
the  world  also  as  an  organic  process,  which  shall  reach 
a  goal  appointed  by  God.  Your  thought  that,  according 
to  this  theory,  the  education  of  your  pupils  should  con- 
sist, from  the  beginning,  of  plastic  formation,  according 
to  the  law  lying  at  the  root  of  all  organic  things,  is  en- 
tirely new  to  me,  but  I  must  recognize  it  as  completely 
correct.  That  all  development  progresses  according  to 
law,  is  indisputable.  This  law  corresponds  to  the  all- 
penetrating  spirit  of  the  world,  and  must  everywhere, 
from  the  smallest  to  the  greatest,  be  in  agreement.  That 
has  already  been  more  or  less  recognized  in  various  phil- 


220  REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL. 

osophical  systems.  And  the  still  unconscious  mind  of 
man  in  childhood  cannot  do  without  this  development 
according  to  law.  Give  it  material,  and  show  it  how  to 
make  material  forms  according  to  a  rule  corresponding 
to  this  universal  principle  of  law,  or  how  to  connect 
parts  into  a  whole,  and  thus  the  way  and  method  of  or- 
ganic formation  will  be  in  a  measure  prefigured. 

"That  is  very  illuminating;  and  one  can  understand 
that  that  which  is  original  in  every  human  soul  can  be, 
in  a  certain  sense,  satisfied  by  it,  and  even  that  originality 
can  be  called  forth  by  it.  But  how  much  is  this  original- 
ity overgrown  and  supplanted  —  yes,  even  smothered  — 
by  what  has  been  inherited  from  parents,  grandparents, 
and  ancestors !  Indeed,  it  should  be  the  task  of  true 
culture  to  cut  down  and  work  over  these  overgrowths, 
and  to  favor  the  growth  of  individuality  and  originality. 
But  how  rarely  is  that  done !  And  can  it  ever  be  done 
completely  ? " 

Froebel,  highly  pleased  at  Varnhagen's  deep  interest, 
replied :  "  As  soon  as  we  understand  the  complete  de- 
velopment of  the  human  being,  even  within  the  limits 
set  upon  our  planet;  this  becomes  possible.  Humanity 
as  such,  as  the  thought  of  God,  can  only  then  appear  in 
its  full  essence  (Wesenheit).  But  every  thought  of  God 
must  have  its  full  and  complete  realization,  —  so  also 
the  thought  of  humanity,  as  it  has  come  into  the  world 
through  Christ.  The  precept  to  imitate  Christ  would 
be  without  meaning,  if  this  imitation  —  I  mean  human 
perfection  on  earth  —  were  not"  possible,  and  were  not 
some  time  to  be  fully  and  universally  realized." 

"  And  that,"  I  interposed,  "  by  every  individual,  in  the 
form  of  his  own  individuality.  The  being  of  man  as  an 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  221 

individual  can  only  appear  in  an  individual  form,  in 
which  the  common  humanity  is  reflected  in  a  particular 
way  belonging  to  the  individual  alone.  And  humanity 
truly  exists  as  a  being,  as  an  organism,  only  when  the 
individual  originality  is  expressed  completely  and  en- 
tirely in  each  individual." 

"  You  must  also  add,"  said  Froebel,  "  that  humanity, 
as  we  understand  the  idea  of  it,  belongs  to  the  earth, 
and  must  therefore  rise  to  its  attainable  perfection  within 
the  limits  which  are  affixed  to  it  as  an  organism." 

"  That  would  be  the  promised  apotheosis  of  the  earth," 
said  Varnhagen.  "  That  is  still  far  distant,  if  we  con- 
sider our  actual  circumstances.  But  you  are  perfectly 
right.  Without  a  popular  education  adapted  to  our  time 
we  cannot  progress  even  to  the  nearest  goal.  This  edu- 
cation must  be  a  practical  one,  which,  as  far  as  possible, 
shall  make  every  one  independent  in  the  life  of  actuality. 
Hail  to  you,  if  you  smooth  the  way  to  that  for  us." 

Froebel  replied  :  "  Certainly  the  nearest  goal  and  the 
initial  step  is  to  be  considered  first,  for  we  have  to  edu- 
cate for  our  time.  Yet  only  he  can  be  an  educator  of 
men,  in  a  high  sense  of  the  word,  who  understands  the 
nature  of  man  in  the  past,  present,  and  future.  Without 
knowing  the  final  goal  of  human  destiny,  —  or,  at  least, 
having  a  presentiment  of  it,  —  we  cannot  take  the  first 
steps  towards  it.  The  farthest  and  the  nearest,  like  the 
greatest  and  the  least,  are  in  connection  ;  and  never  and 
in  no  place  should  this  connection  of  all  things  be  left 
out  of  account." 

This  lively  conversation  was  kept  up  untillate  into  the 
night ;  and  both  Froebel  and  Varnhagen  felt  in  an  ex- 
alted mood,  and  were  mutually  pleased  by  knowing  each 


222  REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

other.  Froebel  gave  Varnhagen,  at  his  departure,  a  copy 
of  his  "  Education  of  Man  "  for  a  keepsake  ;  and  when 
Varnhagen  went  away  the  next  day,  he  said  his  stay  at 
Liebenstein  and  his  acquaintance  with  Froebel  formed 
the  bright  point  in  his  journey  of  the  year. 

When  I  went  to  see  Froebel  on  the  afternoon  of  Varn- 
hagen's  departure,  to  carry  his  last  remembrances,  I  found 
him  surrounded  by  a  little  circle  who  were  accustomed  to 
assemble  there  on  Thursday  afternoons. 

He  was  busy  at  the  moment  in  explaining  his  educa- 
tional doctrine  to  a  strange  gentleman.  The  expression 
of  malicious  irony  and  vaunting  self-conceit  in  this  rather 
young  man  displeased  me  immediately,  and  that  displeas- 
ure increased  during  the  whole  conversation. 

Froebel,  plunged  in  his  own  thought,  found  no  time  to 
fasten  his  eyes  sharply  upon  his  auditor,  but,  with  artless 
zeal,  brought  his  cause  before  him. 

He  was  saying :  "  We  see  that  all  development  of 
every  kind  is  connected  with  conditions  upon  whose 
fulfilment  or  non-fulfilment  the  consequences  depend. 
That  is  true  in  the  material  world  in  the  organisms  of 
nature,  and  is  equally  true  in  the  intellectual  world  in 
respect  to  the  development  of  man,  as  is  expressed  in 
the  history  of  this  development,  —  the  world's  history. 

"But  these  conditions,  by  which  all  development  is 
determined,  depend  fundamentally  upon  a  law  according 
to  which  the  essence  at  the  basis  of  every  organization 
comes  forth  and  is  made  manifest.  This  first  law  of  all 
phenomena  is  the  law  of  opposites.  This  is  the  endow- 
ment of  every  essence  that  comes  into  existence,  and 
particularly  man  called  into  consciousness.  He,  in  spite 


REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL.  223 

of  his  inner  relation  to  God  and  nature,  stands  as  an 
individual  essence  in  the  relation  of  opposite  to  the  uni- 
verse, or  nature,  on  the  one  hand,  and  to  unity,  or  God,  on 
the  other.  The  law  of  connection  is  given  at  the  same 
time  with  the  law  of  opposites.  Connection  (joining  by 
union  of  members,  or  articulation),  or  the  balancing  of 
all  existing  objects,  is  the  ground-law  in  the  universe,  in 
the  visible  and  invisible,  the  material  and  intellectual, 
world. 

"  Everything  in  the  organic  world  subsists  in  the  mem- 
bership of  its  parts  in  a  whole.  These  parts  always  stand 
in  an  opposite  direction  from  each  other,  and  are  con- 
nected or  bound  together  by  a  common  medium ;  for 
example,  the  leaves  of  the  flower  or  the  stem  of  a  tree, 
which  connects  the  root  with  the  crown.  The  limitation 
in  space  of  every  visible  phenomenon  or  thing  condi- 
tions the  opposite  by  the  relation  of  the  limits,  as  below 
and  above,  before  and  behind,  right  and  left,  etc. 

"It  is  the  same  in  the  world  of  representation  and 
thought.  Every  proposition  demands  its  opposite,  and 
both  demand  their  connection.  Thesis,  antithesis, 
and  synthesis  are  the  conditions  of  all  logic.  ^ 

"Man,  on  the  other  side,  is  a  representative  of  this  law, 
since  he  stands  midway  between  God  and  nature,  be- 
tween Creator  and  creature,  on  one  side  as  a  product 
of  nature,  belonging  to  the  world  of  unconscious  being, 
on  the  other  side  as  mind  destined  to  self-conscious  being 
united  with  God,  or  mind  from  God's  mind.  Only  be- 
cause he  carries  within  himself  the  essence  of  both  is  he 
capable  of  knowing  both,  and  is  at  the  same  time  called 
upon  to  make  manifest  the  Divine  in  the  universe,  as  the 
Good,  the  True,  and  the  Beautiful.  He  is  called,  as  crea- 
ture, to  be  also  creator. 


224         REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

"  He  can  only  create  according  to  the  law  of  the  Cre- 
ator himself,  the  law  according  to  which  he  has  been 
himself  created,  and  by  means  of  the  material  which 
nature  affords  him.  This  material  he  is  to  form  and 
transform  according  to  his  own  ideas  and  for  his  own 
purposes.  In  this  way  he  represents  his  inward  world 
in  the  outward  world,  and  thereby  learns  to  know  both. 

"  Up  to  the  present  time  man  creates  and  still  works 
unconsciously  upon  the  law  of  his  activity,  as  the  instinct 
of  the  beast  works,  whose  creating  is  only  possible  also 
according  to  this  law.  But  it  is  the  destiny  of  man  to 
attain  consciousness  of  himself  and  his  own  action. 
When  we  make  the  law  of  development  in  the  universe, 
or  nature's  law  of  formation,  our  law  of  education,  this 
consciousness  may  be  prepared  for  even  in  childhood. 
It  therefore  lies  at  the  foundation  of  my  culture  of  man 
by  means  of  educational  development." 

The  auditor,  with  some  apparent  impatience,  inter- 
rupted Froebel  with  the  remark,  "  Your  law,  the  connec- 
tion of  opposites,  has  already  been  philosophically  treated 
by  Hegel  in  his  '  Dialectics,'  very  well  known  to  me." 

And  now  followed  a  rush  of  words  upon  Hegel's  phi- 
losophy, which  showed  anything  on  his  part  rather  than 
an  understanding  of  that  system  ;  or,  rather,  he  appeared 
to  take  it  for  granted  that  what  Froebel  had  stated  with 
great  emphasis  and  pretension  was  nothing  more  than 
the  repetition  of  some  phrases  of  the  precepts  of  that 
system. 

"I  pray  you,"  he  said,  turning  to  Froebel,  "of  what 
use  in  education  are  such  philosophical  phrases  ?  Edu- 
cation must  in  our  time  be  practical  above  all  things,  and 
prepare  for  practical  life." 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          225 

With  rising  animation  Froebel  replied  :  "  Yes,  indeed, 
education  must  be  practical,  and  especially  in  a  time  like 
ours.  But  the  question  is,  What  must  we  call  practical  ? 
Nothing  can  be  more  practical  than  my  mode  of  educa- 
tion, or  the  law  lying  at  its  foundation,  which  is  anything 
but  a  philosophical  phrase !  I  do  not  know  how  Hegel 
formulates  and  applies  this  law,  for  I  have  had  no  time 
for  the  study  of  his  system.  I  must  work  out  my  educa- 
tional method  from  my  own  original  views,  and  cannot 
linger  over  the  philosophical  systems  of  others.  Most 
of  them  belong  to  a  theory  of  the  world  that  is  passing 
away,  whose  one-sidedness  becomes  more  apparent  every 
day,  and  requires  a  supplement — a  supplement,  however, 
which  will  not  be  wanting. 

"  But  I  will  by  no  means  on  that  account  undervalue 
the  investigations  of  the  past,  or  mistake  their  impor- 
tance. I  know  that  what  the  present  possesses  of  the 
knowledge  of  truth,  is  due  to  the  work  and  investigations 
of  our  predecessors.  Still  less  do  I  take  the  liberty  to 
judge  of  anything  that  is  not  known,  or  but  superficially 
known  to  me.  Esteem  and  reverence  for  science  as  the 
greatest  treasure  of  mankind  is  the  duty  of  every  indi- 
vidual. 

"  At  present,  when  the  question  is  that  of  rising  to  a 
new  stage  of  knowledge,  we  must  begin  at  the  beginning; 
in  almost  all  the  fields  of  knowledge,  we  must  turn  back 
to  the  true  source  of  each  one.  Therefore,  let  us  go  our- 
selves to  the  things  themselves,  instead  of  taking  the 
ready-made  systems,  and  look  at  things  anew  as  far  as 
possible  with  our  own  eyes,  without  preconceived  opin- 
ions, without  repeating  what  others  have  said,  in  order 
that  we  may  draw  from  a  new  source,  and  gain  a  new 


226  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

knowledge  to  add  to  the  sum  of  what  we  possessed  be- 
fore. The  beginning  of  a  new  epoch  in  which  we  are 
living  requires  this. 

"  My  educational  method  offers  to  its  pupils  from  the 
beginning  the  opportunity  to  collect  their  own  experiences 
from  things  themselves,  to  look  with  their  own  eyes  and 
learn  to  know  by  their  own  experiments,  things  and  the 
relations  of  things  to  each  other,  and  also  the  real  life 
of  the  world  of  humanity ;  this  last,  however,  within  the 
limits  necessary  for  morality,^  and  not  divested  of  the 
nimbus  of  the  beautiful  and  the  ideal. 

"  In  such  a  manner  a  greater  inward  as  well  as  out- 
ward independence  will  be  gained,  which  teaches  one 
how  to  stand  on  one's  own  feet.  But  that  is  as  far  as 
the  heavens  from  that  apparent  independence  which 
grows  out  of  hollow  and  empty  pretension.  That  too 
much  and  too  early  knowledge  with  which  youth  is 
crammed  (just  as  too  early  ripening  is  brought  to  fruit 
by  too  strong  manuring  of  the  ground  and  the  artificial 
warmth  of  the  forcing-house)  prevents  men  from  reach- 
ing a  true  and  real  independence,  which  is  only  the  fruit 
of  the  vigorous  efforts  of  one's  own  powers,  especially  by 
acting  and  doing. 

"  You  are  quite  right ;  philosophical  phrases,  that  is, 
philosophical  systems  learned  by  heart,  the  contents  of 
which  cannot  thus  be  made  one's  own,  not  only  are  use- 
less, but  positively  injurious.  One's  own  thinking  is 
thereby  hindered,  the  unfolding  of  individualities  nipped, 
and  these  turned  into  other  than  their  natural  paths. 

"  Not  until  the  human  mind  has  arrived  at  the  knowl- 
edge of  things  and  their  relations,  and  has  come  to 
understand  life  and  its  claims  in  some  degree,  from  its 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          227 

own  experience  ;  not  until  it  has  gained  the  capability 
of  judging  for  itself;  and  not  till  the  universal  foun- 
dation for  its  own  theory  is  laid,  should  it  concern  it- 
self with  the  theories  of  others  as  fixed  and  ready-made 
systems.  Only  the  somewhat  matured  mind  can  culti- 
vate itself  further  by  means  of  the  systems  of  thought 
of  others. 

"  The  facts  of  life,  of  history,  and  of  nature  offer  to 
youth  suitable  and  sufficient  material  for  thinking  for 
all  degrees  of  the  capacity  of  human  individuality  ;  and 
they  at  the  same  time  cultivate  the  judgment,  so  as  to 
put  it  in  a  condition  at  a  later  period  to  comprehend  the 
relations  to  the  highest  things  in  an  abstract  manner,  or 
philosophically.  The  history  of  the  human  race  shows 
plainly  how  the  philosophic  theories  were  at  first  the 
result  of  many  centuries'  work  of  intellectual  culture, 
according  to  which  the  individual  has  even  now  to  ascend 
these  various  steps  in  the  path  of  experience  before  he 
can  arrive  at  the  summit  of  intellectual  ripeness  and 
independence,  which  all  philosophy  claims.  First  his- 
tory, and  then  the  philosophy  of  history. 

"  It  is  quite  a  different  thing  whether  we  look  upon 
concrete  things  and  facts  as  merely  material,  the  things 
and  facts  serving  for  this  or  that  outward  purpose,  or  con- 
template them  as  the  outward  form  of  spiritual  con- 
tents, as  the  intermedium  of  higher  truths  and  higher 
knowledge.  In  such  a  manner  the  inconspicuous  prod- 
ucts of  the  kingdoms  of  nature  serve  the  investigator 
of  nature  to  discover  facts  which  lead  by  syllogistic 
reasoning  to  the  highest  scientific  knowledge.  In  this 
sense  the  material  world  is  a  symbol  of  the  spiritual 
world,  and  it  is  in  this  sense  that  education  needs  to  use 


228          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

it,  especially  for  the  purpose  of  leading  the  child  to  the 
ultimate  cause  of  all  things,  —  God." 

"  I  cannot  declare  myself  in  agreement  with  the  la.st 
view  you  have  expressed,"  said  the  auditor,  with  ironical 
self-conceit,  "  for  I  am  an  atheist.  With  the  practical 
means  that  you  have  shown  me,  something  can  be  done. 
The  technical  culture  for  which  they  serve  is  of  the 
highest  importance." 

Froebel  smiled  somewhat  ironically  at  the  incompar- 
able presumption  with  which  the  gentleman  said  he  was 
an  atheist,  and  replied  :  "  I  shall  not  quarrel  with  you 
upon  your  religious  convictions,  or  rather  upon  your 
complete  want  of  such,  and  will  only  remark  that  in 
my  opinion  there  is  no  such  thing  as  an  atheist,  for  the 
deniers  of  God  make  out  some  kind  of  a  God  for  them- 
selves in  their  own  fashion,  even  to  making  themselves 
one  in  their  miserable  self-confidence. 

"  But  if  you  think  that  my  educational  materials  are 
useful,  this  cannot  be  because  of  their  exterior,  which  is 
as  simple  as  possible,  and  contains  nothing  new.  The 
worth  of  them  is  to  be  found  exclusively  in  their  appli- 
cation, that  is,  in  the  method  in  which  I  use  them.  But 
this  method  consists  in  the  application  of  that  law  which 
you  characterize  as  an  '  empty  phrase.'  The  whole 
meaning  of  my  educational  method  rests  upon  this  law 
alone.  The  method  stands  or  falls  with  the  recognition 
or  non-recognition  of  it.  Everything  that  is  left  is  mere 
material,  the  working  of  which  proceeds  according  to 
the  law,  and  without  that  law  would  not  be  practicable." 

Froebel  had  risen  from  his  seat  as  he  was  uttering 
these  words,  and  spoke  with  the  tone  of  the  deepest 
irritation  of  offended  dignity. 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          229 

The  conceited,  puffed-up,  and  really  ignorant  young 
man,  standing  opposite  to  the  true  genius  in  his  homely 
simplicity  and  modest  dignity,  made  a  characteristic  pic- 
ture of  the  ever-recurring  misapprehension  of  the  true 
meaning  of  things,  not  only  by  conceited  fools,  but  also 
by  that  jejune  mediocrity  which  presumes  to  take  the 
mastery  by  coarse  boasting,  assumption,  and  ignorance. 
The  great  number  of  this  class  of  people,  who  without 
thorough  culture  meddle  with  scientific  subjects  and  phil- 
osophical systems,  utter  fn  loud  voice  the  theories  and 
thoughts  of  others,  and  give  themselves  the  air  of  cul- 
ture without  possessing  it,  judge  all  things  and  every- 
thing, criticise  contemptuously  as  long  as  it  is  not  some- 
thing universally  recognized  or  in  correspondence  to  the 
cant  words  of  the  time,  and  may  well  come  to  the  con- 
clusion that  our  method  of  education  is  not  perfectly 
correct. 

The  reverence  for  intellectual  superiority,  pure  devo- 
tion to  the  search  after  truth,  sacrifice  for  the  realization 
of  an  idea,  all  seem  to  the  great  mass  of  the  youth  of 
the  present  day  mere  folly,  and  intellectual  acquire- 
ments have  value  in  their  eyes  only  so  far  as  they  serve 
self-seeking,  vanity,  and  desire  for  pleasure,  or  are  useful 
for  material  gain.  These  undeniable  facts  are  well  fitted 
to  point  out  the  need  of  educational  improvements,  and 
to  show  that  the  learning  in  the  schools,  and  obligatory 
attendance  upon  these  last,  do  not  yet  result  in  real,  fun- 
damental culture. 

Froebel's  words  made  little  impression  upon  the 
young  fool  whom  they  admonished.  Instead  of  an- 
swering them,  he  pointed  to  some  of  the  figures  and 
structures  which  he  had  been  making,  not  without  skill, 


230          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

of  the  blocks,  sticks,  etc.,  which  were  lying  before  him, 
while  Froebel  was  speaking. 

"  You  see,"  he  said,  "  I  already  go  to  school  to  you, 
and  am  surprised  to  find  how  excellently  this  material 
can  be  used  without  your  law.  I  would  add  to  your 
building-blocks  a  few  others  for  the  higher  architecture. 
This  material  is  too  simple  for  older  pupils." 

Froebel  replied  :  "  It  is  this  simplicity  alone  that  makes 
these  building-blocks  suitable  for  children.  I  have  also 
thought  of  carrying  the  dividing  of  them  still  further, 
according  to  the  same  law,  but  that  would  be  an  error. 
A  further  division  would  make  the  legitimate  use  of  them 
impossible.  We  can  use  the  four  boxes  of  blocks  to- 
gether for  a  greater  increase  of  material.  The  just  line 
of  the  division  must  be  observed.  The  older  pupils  may 
multiply  the  material  by  their  own  discoveries,  but  then 
it  ceases  to  be  a  means  of  methodical  instruction.  Such 
building-blocks  as  you  suggest  can  be  offered  to  a  riper 
age  of  childhood,  by  which  the  various  styles  of  building 
of  nations  and  times  can  be  represented,  I  admit,  but 
that  does  not  belong  to  my  kindergarten,  which  can  use 
only  what  is  elementary.  My  material  is  all-sufficient 
also  for  the  first  school-years.  A  too  great  variety  of  it 
would  prevent  the  unfolding  of  the  spirit  of  invention." 

"  Your  law  would  hinder  my  invention,"  said  the  all- 
wise  gentleman. 

f    "And  yet,"  said  Froebel,  "you  have  used  the  law  your- 

/    self  in  the  forms  you  have  made.     Any  one  is  able  to 

make  the  forms  with  the  proper  material,  but  every  one 

who  does  it,  applies  my  law,  even  if  without  being  aware 

\    of  it !    While  you  lay  your  little  sticks  in  opposite  direc- 

\tions  to  bring  out  this  figure,  you  apply  the  law  of  oppo- 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          231 

sites,  and  when  you  use  these  other  little  sticks  as  con- 
necting links  of  those  lying  in  opposite  directions,  you 
connect  the  opposites,  applying  also  the  law  of  their 
connection. 

"  All  formation  is  on  the  condition  of  uniting  various 
parts  ;  what  is  united  forms,  as  it  were,  a  web  or  texture, 
and  that  exists  only  by  the  connecting  of  opposing  lines 
or  threads,  as,  for  example,  the  web  of  the  spider,  which 
only  thus  holds  together.  No  organism  exists  without 
such  a  knitting  of  parts,  without  at  least  approximately 
forming  a  web,  even  if  it  is  not  visible  to  the  eye.  The 
magnifying  power  of  the  microscope  shows  us  plainly 
the  net-like  web,  whether  it  is  upon  a  leaf,  or  upon  our 
skin,  or  whatever  it  may  be.  Even  the  smallest  cell, 
which  is  not  visible  to  the  eye,  consists  of  a  web,  and  every- 
thing which  comes  into  view  from  the  invisible  point  can 
be  formed  in  no  other  way  than  by  being  produced  thus 
from  different  directions,  or  shot  forth,  as  in  the  process 
of  crystallization.  Every  web  also  forms  a  net  in  a  cer- 
tain way  by  the  crossing  of  the  lines  running  in  opposite 
directions.  But  this  net  exhibits  at  every  crossing,  or 
every  point  of  contact,  a  centre  which  is  to  be  referred 
to  some  circumference,  as  it  were,  and  every  square  of 
the  net  is  a  division  which  offers  the  best  means  of 
arrangement  of  the  different  parts  of  a  whole. 

"  For  this  reason  I  give  my  children  a  net  consisting 
of  perpendicular  and  horizontal  lines,  which  serves  as  a 
guide  for  drawing  all  forms,  and  regulates  and  facilitates 
the  proportions  of  parts  to  a  whole  and  their  correct  and 
equal  co-ordination.  Painters  use  a  net  for  the  same 
purpose  in  their  copies  of  pictures. 

"  The  net  affords  the  most  intelligible  image  of  the 


232          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

joining  of  opposites,  by  the  opposite  direction  of  its  lines. 
The  web  of  all  nature's  forms  is  always  a  net,  and  ex- 
presses the  law  as  the  norm  of  all  formation.  The  name 
is  of  no  importance,  but  I  hold  my  designation  of  the 
law  of  the  connection  of  opposites  as  the  best,  and  particu- 
larly good  for  describing  relations  in  the  intellectual/ 
\  order  of  things. 

"  The  inflexible  dualism  in  philosophical  theories  has 
arisen  from  the  one-sided  emphasizing  of  opposites  with- 
out consideration  of  the  connecting  members,  that  is, 
God  and  the  world,  without  taking  in  man  as  the  con- 
necting link,  etc.  Our  time  has  the  task  of  completing 
this  one-sided  theory,  since  it  teaches  that  all  opposites, 
without  exception,  exist  only  as  an  absolute  principle, 
but  never  as  absolute  in  the  phenomenal  world,  where  the 
relative  rules.  The  law  of  connection  is  therefore  the 
law  which  our  time  especially  needs  to  know  !  " 

Froebel  turned  more  to  the  others  present  than  to  the 
stranger  with  this  explanation.  The  man  was  evidently 
not  capable  of  understanding  the  deepest  treatment  of 
the  subject. 

To  prevent  Froebel  from  losing  himself  too  far  in  his 
outspoken  thoughts,  as  he  often  did,  and  thereby  not 
dwelling  upon  their  application  to  his  method,  I  asked 
him  to  point  out  his  law  in  one  of  his  materials. 

"  And  which  of  the  occupations  will  serve  best  for  it, 
in  your  opinion  ? "  he  asked. 

C  *'  The  drawing,  I  think,"  replied  I,  "  which  shows  so 

/  clearly  and  significantly  how  by  the  application  of  the 

law  of  the  connection  of  opposites  the  greatest  variety  of 

figures  arises  without  any  preliminaries,  and  without  any 

other  direction  to  the  child  than  those  which  guide  all  his 
\ 


REMINISCENCES    OF    FROEBEL.  233 

occupations  and  bring  them  to  practical  results.  When 
I  asked  a  six-year-old  child  in  the  kindergarten  to  carry 
out  the  directed  linear  figures  still  further,  he  answered, 
'  I  cannot  find  the  opposite  of  my  last  figure.' 

"  f  Now,  then,  draw  without  a  rule,'  I  said.  The  child 
looked  at  me  astonished,  and  replied,  '  But  can  't  I  find 
any  more  figures  ? ' 

"  A  better  proof  that  the  law  is  the  very  simplest  and 
is  a  guide  for  making  the  child  work  intelligently  for 
independent  formation  cannot  be  found  !  Your  grown 
pupils  say  that  the  drawing  makes  the  law  intelligible  to 
them  in  the  highest  degree,  and  some  of  them,  have  said 
that  they  first  acquired  the  power  of  logical  thinking  by 
this  occupation  of  drawing." 

Froebel  was  delighted  at  this  testimony,  and  took  a 
number  of  the  drawing-sheets  of  the  trained  pupils, 
shuffled  them  together,  and  laid  them  in  a  pile  upon  the 
table,  saying  :  "  Now  see  whether  you  can  find  in  these 
inventions,  made  according  to  my  rule,  the  individual 
stamp  of  each  pupil,  and  can  put  together  the  sheets 
drawn  by  each." 

This  proved  an  easy  task.  In  some  of  the  drawings 
lying  before  me  predominated  the  radiating,  the  articu- 
lated, or  the  open  style  ;  while  in  others,  more  compact, 
condensed,  and  solid  bodies  showed  their  similarity  of 
form. 

Only  a  few  were  too  indefinite  to  express  characteristic 
marks ;  so  that  it  was  easy,  in  the  majority  of  these  little 
sheets,  to  discriminate  between  the  work  of  the  different 
persons. 

"Surely,"  I  said,  "the  free  inventions  of  all  the  occu- 
pations wrought  in  the  kindergarten  show  how  good  a 


234      .    REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

means  it  is  to  call  forth  the  individual  tendencies  and 
characteristics  of  each  pupil.  But  one  must  be  con- 
vinced of  this  by  one's  own  observation  in  order  to 
believe  it.  As  long  as  this  is  not  made,  the  cause  will 
have  opponents  who  will  pervert  it  into  its  opposite.  A 
short  time  ago  a  teacher  called  it  a  wooden  education 
(Schablonenerziehung\  because  he  thought  the  children 
were  forced  to  bring  out  the  same  things  with  the  same 
materials,  instead  of  being  allowed  the  necessary  freedom 
in  action  and  play." 

"  That  is  only  because  they  do  not  know  how  my  law 
is  to  be  applied,  which  alone  can  make  possible  any  free- 
dom in  formation.  The  order  of  the  whole  creation  rests 
upon  this  law  alone,  and  all  freedom  of  development 
corresponds  to  this  order." 

He  took  the  first  sheet  of  his  drawing-method  in  his 
hand,  and  showed  how  the  lines  of  different  lengths 
drawn  in  the  net  formed  a  right-angled  triangle,  consist- 
ing of  perpendicular,  horizontal,  and  oblique  lines ;  and 
how  thus,  out  of  the  triangles  placed  together  in  oppo- 
site directions,  symmetrical  figures  are  produced,  like 
those  which  are  formed  by  the  planes,  consisting  of  dif- 
ferent triangles." 

He  said  :  "  With  my  planes  I  give  the  triangle  as  a 
material  surface.  Here  in  the  drawing  I  have  three 
lines  which  form  the  triangle.  Then  the  parts  which 
are  arranged  by  lines  into  a  whole  form  a  triangle  as  a 
whole,  which  again  serves  as  a  part  to  form  a  greater 
whole  by  the  union  of  several  triangles. 

"  In  the  further  carrying-out  of  the  designs  there  arise 
larger  and  more  complicated  figures,  whose  parts  are 
then  united  as  a  whole,  to  be  added  together  as  parts  or 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  235 

members  of  a  still  greater  whole,  like  the  articulations 
in  every  organism  of  nature.  Nature  follows  the  same 
course,  proceeding  from  the  simplest  to  the  most  com- 
plicated, and  forms  a  similar  articulation,  since  every- 
thing in  it  is  a  member  or  a  part  of  a  greater  whole, 
from  a  blade  of  grass  up  to  the  universe.  This  articula- 
tion begins  with  the  simplest  and  rises  to  the  most  com- 
plicated, the  boundless  whole.  Everything,  then,  is  a 
member  (or  part),  and  also  a  whole,  or  an  organism. 

"  Thus  I  give  to  the  child,  by  my  system  of  drawing, 
an  image  and  scheme  of  organization,  and  develop  in 
him  his  tendency  for  organizing.  Every  productive 
work,  every  work  consciously  willed,  is  conditioned  upon 
the  union  of  parts  according  to  an  idea,  and  that  is  noth- 
ing else  than  organizing. 

"  All  organizing  rests  upon  the  application  of  a  rule  or 
a  law :  it  is  therefore  according  to  law,  and  can  never 
admit  of  caprice.  Without  the  application  of  the  law, 
the  child  could  not  create  independently,  any  more  than 
he  could  learn  to  read  and  write  without  guidance.  But, 
before  he  learns  to  read  and  write,  he  himself  must  learn 
the  beginning  of  action,  or  of  organizing  and  shaping ; 
and  for  that  there  is  need  of  the  impression  of  elemen- 
tary forms,  which  lie  at  the  foundation  of  all  forms  also. 
These  must  make  an  impression  upon  the  child's  mind, 
in  order  to  prepare  for  the  later  culture  of  the  power  of 
abstract  thinking  (Begriff-bildung),  or  scientific  mathe- 
matics. My  system  of  drawing  shows  plainly  the  transi- 
tion from  the  regular  mathematical  forms  —  the  skeleton 
of  all  forms  —  to  the  forms  of  beauty. 

"  You  will  recognize  these  forms  as  beautiful,  that  is, 
harmonious  in  the  correspondence  of  their  parts.  The 


236          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

single  parts  you  find  here  in  their  beginnings,  as  mathe- 
matical forms  and  then  as  triangles. 

"We  also  always  find  the  fundamental  forms  as  mathe- 
matical forms  in  nature,  but  draped,  in  order  to  rise  to 
beautiful  form. 

"  Art  developed  in  the  same  way.  The  Egyptian 
temples  show  us  only  straight-lined  figures,  which  con- 
sequently show  mathematical  relations.'  Only  in  later 
times  appeared  the  lines  of  beauty,  that  is,  the  arched 
or  circular  lines. 

"  I  carry  the  child  on  in  the  same  way.  You  can  per- 
ceive in  these  figures  how  the  gradual  transition  from  the 
straight  to  the  curved  line  takes  place." 

One  of  the  teachers  present,  from  a  neighboring  town, 
here  interrupted,  and  said  :  "  One  sees  in  the  kinder- 
garten how  remarkably  this  method  of  drawing  develops 
the  children,  and  how  quickly,  by  the  application  of  this 
simple  law,  they  are  first  directed  how  to  make  forms, 
and  then  go  on  to  the  independent  invention  of  regular 
forms ;  and  that  this  method  is  the  only  one  that  can 
make  such  young  children  capable  of  drawing  without 
patterns,  which  I  never  should  have  considered  possible 
if  it  had  not  been  for  my  personal  observation.  Besides, 
this  combining  and  conceiving  is  the  best  thinking  exer- 
cise for  young  children  that  can  be  found.  You  will  be 
pleased,  Herr  Froebel,  when  I  bring  you  the  inventions 
of  my  children,  which  I  have  selected  for  the  coming 
teachers'  convention." 

"  Certainly,"  said  Froebel,  "  that  I  shall !  You  have 
already  done  much  in  your  school  in  a  short  time,  since 
you  introduced  my  method." 

This  teacher  was  one  of  the  eager  and  self-sacrificing 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          237 

pupils  of  Froebel,  from  the  neighborhood  of  Marienthal, 
who  devoted  every  spare  moment  to  learn  of  him,  coming 
to  him  a  long  way  even  in  stormy,  cold,  and  snowy 
weather,  and  often  going  home  late  at  night. 

"  The  instinct  of  children,"  I  added,  "  knows  how  to 
make  Froebel's  law  their  own  very  quickly ;  that  I  ob- 
serve in  every  kindergarten  I  visit.  The  youngest  chil- 
dren are  able  to  make  very  pretty  inventions,  and  without 
imagining,  on  that  account  (as  many  of  the  present  mere 
imitators  of  the  thing  do),  that  the  new  figures  they  have 
discovered  are  exclusively  their  own  possession.  They 
see  how  every  child  can  do  the  same  thfhg. 

"  Through  the  children,  adults  will  learn  how  to  seize 
upon  the  law  and  its  consequences,  while  at  present  there 
is  so  little  understanding  of  it  that  many  people  presume, 
in  their  pitiful  self-conceit,  to  deride  it ! 

"  By  and  by  Froebel's  educational  law  will  be  accepted 
as  distinctly  and  independently  as  Newton's  law  of  gravi- 
tation. Now,  every  school-boy  who  has  learned  anything 
understands  Newton's  law.  When  Newton  proclaimed 
it,  only  a  few  of  the  learned  were  able  to  comprehend  it. 

"The  whole  striving  of  the 'present  time  tends  to  make 
serviceable  by  practical  application  the  discoveries  and 
knowledge  of  the  human  mind.  The  practical  applica- 
tion and  results  will  prove  the  truth  of  the  idea  lying 
at  its  foundation,  and.  then  these  will  make  it  plain  to 
the  common  understanding,  which  always  at  first  needs 
demonstration. 

"  It  is  always  the  simplest  and  nearest  principle  that 
men  seize  with  the  most  difficulty.  No  one  thinks  it 
strange  that  the  instinct  of  beasts  makes  them  act  so 
intelligently,  makes  the  migrating  birds,  for  instance,  fly 


238          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

toward  the  south  at  the  right  time,  makes  them  choose 
the  shortest  way,  and  on  their  return  the  next  year  seek 
their  old  nests,  etc.  But  they  do  not  believe  in  the  rea- 
sonableness of  the  idea  of  the  human  instinct  in  the 
child,  and  deride  your  idea  of  guiding  his  unconscious 
action  educationally,  and  making  it  useful  for  later  cul- 
ture." 

Froebel  assented,  and  went  on  :  "  The  time  has  now 
come  to  exalt  all  work  into  free  activity,  that  is,  to  rrfake  it 
intelligent  action.  This  can  only  take  place  when  the 
law,  according  to  which  all  formative  activity  proceeds, 
is  recognized  and  consciously  applied,  as  it  has  been 
hitherto  unconsciously  applied.  The  occupation-material 
of  my  method  gives  the  means  of  the  unconscious  appli- 
cation of  the  law  on  the  children's  part  to  rise  to  art  in 
such  a  way  as  to  come  to  their  consciousness  by  degrees 
and  be  recognized  as  the  guide  and  regulator  of  all  for- 
mation. In  no  other  way  can  human  work  be  trans- 
formed into  free  activity.  It  can  only  become  intellec- 
tual acdon  out  of  what  has  been  mere  mechanical  action, 
when  the  occupation  of  the  hand  is  at  the  same  time  the 
occupation  of  the  mind. 

"  At  the  present  time,  art  alone  can  truly  be  called  free 
activity,  but  every  human  work  corresponds  more  or  less 
with  creative  activity,  and  this  is  necessary  in  order  to 
make  man  the  image  of  his  Divine  Creator,  —  a  creator, 
on  his  own  part,  in  miniature."] 

After  all  the  company  had  gone,  I  expressed  to  Froebel 
my  great  sorrow  that  so  many  useless  and  even  harmful 
elements  should  press  into  his  cause,  while  the  intelligent 
advocates  stood  apart  from  each  other. 


REMINISCENCES    OF    FROEBEL.  239 

"  Have  you  never  found  any  young  man  but  Midden- 
dorff,"  I  inquired,  "  who  could  and  would  devote  himself 
wholly  to  your  cause  ? " 

"  I  once  thought  I  had  found  such  a  one,"  answered 
Froebel,  "  but  he  left  me  and  betrayed  me  in  the  most 
injurious  manner." 

He  then  related  to  me  how  much  he  had  loved  a  young 
teacher  in  the  Keilhau  institution  ;  how  he  had  over- 
loaded him  with  benefits,  and  had  devoted  his  time  to 
him  at  a  great  sacrifice,  in  order  to  induct  him  fully  into 
his  educational  idea,  in  the  hope  of  making  of  him  an 
intelligent,  ^rue  scholar  and  teacher  who  would  spread 
his  doctrine  abroad  after  his  death.  With  great  sorrow 
he  was  obliged  to  come  to  the  conclusion  that  there  had 
either  been  an  incapacity  in  the  young  man  to  understand 
the  thing  fully,  or  he  had  wanted  the  necessary  self-denial 
for  such  a  task.  After  free  conversation  upon  the  mis- 
conception of  his  idea,  a  profound  estrangement  had 
taken  place  between  them,  and  the  offended  vanity  of  the 
pupil  had  separated  them.  His  selfishness  and  falsehood 
had  shown  themselves  more  and  more  afterwards,  and 
made  Froebel  feel  that  his  intention  was  only  to  make 
serviceable  for  his  own  purposes  the  idea  Froebel  had 
held  as  so  sacred  a  one.  When  the  sad  time  of  poverty 
and  want  came  upon  him,  during  which  he  needed  so 
much  friendly  support,  this  ungrateful  one  left  Keilhau, 
which  seemed  to  him  no  longer  suited  to  the  execution 
of  his  plans.  He  endeavored  to  bring  discredit  upon 
Froebel  and  his  institution,  by  the  coarsest  detraction 
and  false  accusations.  This  was  his  gratitude  for  the 
love  and  benefit  that  had  been  bestowed  upon  him  ! 

Froebel  made  this  communication  to  me  with  the 
deepest  sadness,  and  with  tears  in  his  eyes. 


240          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

"  Must  every  Master  have  his  Judas,  and  every  truth 
its  betrayer ! "  I  exclaimed. 

"  Yes,"  said  Froebel,  "  it  cannot  be  otherwise  than  that 
self-sacrifice,  which  every  bearer  of  an  idea  must  make, 
should  call  forth  its  opposite,  which  is  selfishness.  Sel- 
fishness makes  profit  out  of  everything  that  does  not  re- 
sist it.  '  Let  him  who  will  follow  me  take  up  the  cross.' 
Thus  it  always  is  with  those  who  do  battle  for  truth;  they 
must  expect  to  be  crucified  ! " 

"  To  have  nourished  a  snake  in  one's  bosom,"  I  re- 
marked, "  is  always  the  most  painful  suffering  one  can 
have  to  bear.  But  the  greatest  of  sins  consists  in  be- 
traying a  new  truth,  which  is  to  serve  for  the  salvation 
of  humanity.  That  is  the  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Beware  of  such  persons  as  your  visitor  of  to-day,  who 
will  not  hesitate  to  commit  this  sin  against  your  idea." 

How  much  our  cause  would  have  to  suffer  from  its 
betrayers  we  had  no  suspicion  at  that  time.  For  my 
own  part,  I  hoped  that  the  inconspicuousness  of  its 
outward  appearance  would  protect  it  from  the  Sover- 
eigns of  Industry,  so  great  a  number  of  whom  have  taken 
possession  of  it  at  present. 

Far  worse,  even,  is  the  influence  of  those  who  do  not 
hesitate  to  deride  it  and  make  it  ridiculous,  while  they 
proceed  to  make  use  oT  its  practical  means  to  gain  the 
credit  of  the  discovery  for  themselves  ! 

For  this  purpose  they  select  single  passages,  without 
their  context,  from  Froebel's  writings,  which  in  Froebel's 
heavy  manner  of  expression  sound  not  only  confused  and 
obscure,  but  absolutely  senseless.  It  is  at  best  difficult 
to  express  new  views  clearly  and  significantly,  since  every 
hew  thing  must  create  its  own  expression  of  itself.  But 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  241 

in  endeavoring  to  express  deep  thoughts  upon  the  being 
of  man  in  childish  plays,  the  danger  can  scarcely  be 
avoided  of  making  that  appear  ridiculous  which  is  truly 
earnestness. 

Besides,  there  are  in  every  cause,  and  especially  in  the 
first  attempt  to  carry  out  what  is  still  new  and  therefore 
undeveloped,  weak  places  and  defects  which  can  easily 
be  used  maliciously ;  thus,  many  a  badly  formed  verse, 
many  an  example  not  quite  well  chosen,  is  used  in  that 
way. 

They  dp  not  hesitate  to  call  Froebel's  occupation-ma- 
terials and  children's  plays  a  "  play-martyr  system,"  even 
after  numerous  kindergartens  with  their  cheerful,  happy, 
and  naturally  developed  pupils  have  given  the  lie  to  such 
slanders ;  after  thousands  of  parents  have  blessed  the 
beneficent  institution,  and  an  ever-increasing  number  of 
thinkers  have  recognized  and  accepted  the  idea  lying  at 
the  foundation  of  it  as  a  true  one  and  inspired  by  genius ! 

No  friendly  visitor  of  even  the  numerous  kindergartens 
conducted  without  comprehension  of  the  method,  ajpd 
without  knowledge  of  the  science  of  teaching,  would  be 
induced  to  use  the  expression  "  a  martyr  system,"  which 
only  exposes  the  malice  of  those  who  apply  it. 

The  tactics  of  those  critics  who  think  they  are  criticis- 
ing Froebel's  work  fundamentally,  proceed,  after  showing 
that  the  Froebelian  principles  and  measures  are  ruinous 
and  inefficient,  to  speak  of  the  necessity  and  timeliness 
of  the  very  institutions  and  arrangements  under  discus- 
sion which  they  have  themselves  disparaged,  and  par- 
ticularly to  exalt  the  no-longer-to-be-delayed  education 
for  work  as  the  true  foundation  of  the  education  of  the 
people !  The  discussions  of  this  subject,  reported  with 


242          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

great  emphasis,  are  followed  by  practical  propositions, 
ingeniously  invented  means  of  cultivating  the  working 
power  of  childhood  still  in  the  playing  age,  etc.,  and 
with  astonishment  one  recognizes  in  these  propositions 
and  means  for  the  furtherance  of  this  object  the  very 
plays  and  occupations  of  Froebel  hitherto  ridiculed ; 
and,  indeed,  without  any  change  or  alteration  on  the  out- 
ward, material  side,  but  also  without  anything  of  the 
methodical  means  by  which  alone  the  result  is  to  be 
reached,  and  of  which  this  new  discoverer  has  not  even 
a  presentiment ! 

Another  mode  of  setting  themselves  up  as  improvers 
and  promoters  of  Froebel's  method  consists  in  laughing 
at  the  law  lying  at  the  foundation  of  it,  or  casting  it 
aside  ironically  (showing  themselves  utterly  ignorant  of 
it),  and  then,  with  the  assertion  that  there  is  another 
meaning  to  it  than  the  one  Froebel  gives,  letting  the 
occupations  invented  by  Froebel  without  any  change  fol- 
low as  their  own  invention  !  This  is  scarcely  credible, 
but  it  is  true.  Without  any  conception  of  Froebel's  idea 
and  method  of  applying  it,  without  understanding  the 
meaning  of  the  subject  itself,  they  carelessly  copy  what 
Froebel  has  invented  and  what  his  real  pupils  have  worked 
out,  and  set  themselves  up  as  its  improvers  and  promoters, 
not  thinking  that  the  time  must  come  when  the  ground 
and  truth  of  it  will  be  seen  and  recognized,  and  they  will 
find  themselves  in  the  pillory.  It  is  the  characteristic 
way  of  such  enemies  to  decry  as  "orthodox"  and  "imi- 
tators "  those  who  truly  and  earnestly  advocate  the  cause, 
and  as  following  Froebel  to  the  letter  blindly,  and  with- 
out any  judgment  and  discrimination  of  their  own.  And 
yet  every  child  must  understand  that  continuous  develop- 


REMINISCENCES    OF   FROEBEL.  243 

ment,  which  every  thing  and  every  one  needs,  is  only  pos- 
sible through  the  application  of  what  exists  according  to 
a  prescribed  rule  or  method,  or  methodically.  One  can 
only  improve  what  is  at  hand,  and  can  do  it  then  only  by 
real  understanding  of  the  thought  lying  at  the  foundation 
of  the  discovery.  It  is  also  a  heavy  responsibility  to  take 
upon  themselves  to  put  off  the  recognition,  and  with  it 
the  universal  application,  of  an  innovation  so  full  of 
promise  for  the  improvement  of  the  education  of  the 
people,  and  that  in  a  time  like  ours  when  such  heavy 
battles  are  impending  for  a  new  social  birth  ;  battles 
which  the  unconquered  roughness  of  the  masses  threatens 
to  make  bloody.  But  these  people  will  have  to  expiate 
on  a  large  scale  whatever  apparent  advantages  they  have 
gained  for  the  present,  when  the  truth  shall  be  seen  and 
their  miserable  machinations  shall  be  revealed.  They 
forget  that  this  spirit,  this  idea,  is  the  only  living  one  and 
therefore  alone  capable  of  making  a  germinating  seed  of 
truth  grow.  But  this  delay  to  profit  by  the  new  educa- 
tional system  is  inevitable,  since  the  authorities  and  all 
those  who  have  influence  in  this  respect  will  be  led  astray 
by  such  charlatanism  and  the  intentional  fraud  of  indi- 
viduals. 

The  improvement  which  each  and  all  need  can  only 
be  reached  by  means  of  practice,  but  never  by  those  who 
cast  aside  the  method  on  which  this  practice  depends  as 
"  empty  phrases,"  without  observing  that  the  fish  they 
thought  they  had  caught  had  escaped  and  left  only  sand 
in  the  net.  The  men  without  genius  neither  understand 
genius,  nor  are  they  able  to  separate  the  idea  as  such 
from  the  person  who  holds  it ;  they  think  the  idea  can- 
not be  holy,  if  they  see  the  person  who  holds  it  err,  as 


244  REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

every  man  does.  Yet  while  setting  themselves  up  as 
improvers,  they  have  not  pointed  out  a  single  error,  or 
refuted  Froebel,  or  added  to  his  idea  an  iota  of  any- 
thing useful  and  new.  They  speak  about  what  they  do 
not  understand,  and  therefore  cannot  give  or  carry  out 
the  application  of  it,  and  so  they  will  continue  to  strike 
genius  dead  in  its  swaddling-clothes,  until  there  shall 
appear  in  sufficient  numbers  those  who  really  do  under- 
stand what  it  is  that  Froebel  has  found  for  a  new  start- 
ing-point for  the  development  of  the  human  mind,  and  also 
the  means  to  start  from  the  visible  world  instead  of  from 
ideas  ;  from  experience  and  facts  instead  of  from  doc- 
trines ;  and  to  smooth  the  path  of  transition  from  the 
sensuous  to  the  spiritual  in  the  period  of  unconscious 
being  without  tearing  away  the  connection,  as  is  done 
now,  whatever  may  be  said  to  the  contrary. 

Besides,  there  can  be  no  question  at  present  about  the 
want  of  full  understanding  and  practical  application  of 
the  method,  so  far  as  the  necessary  preliminary  condi- 
tions for  it  are  yet  wanting.  One  of  these  conditions 
consists  in  the  existing  ignorance  of  mothers,  and  conse- 
quently in  faulty  family  education  ;  another,  in  the  want 
of  sufficient  and  special  power  of  teaching.  These  wants 
are  to  be  duly  considered  first,  and  the  power  of  teaching 
is  to  be  cultivated  in  as  "  orthodox  "  a  manner,  accord- 
ing to  Froebel,  as  possible;  that  is,  methodically,  without 
the  deterioration  of  these  boasters.  Only  thus  can  the 
spirit  of  the  method  pass  into  the  practice  of  it,  make  up 
what  is  wanting,  and  by  improving  the  whole  secure  con- 
tinuous development.  The  subject  must  first  be  set  forth 
in  its  original  form,  and  the  right  beginning  made. 

At  that  time,  when  Froebel  was  still  actively  employed 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  245 

for  the  realization  of  his  idea,  he  found,  among  the  never- 
ceasing  disappointments,  ever-recurring  consolation  and 
encouragement  through  a  few  sympathizers  who,  filled 
like  himself  with  the  love  of  truth,  were  ready  for  every 
sacrifice  to  it. 

When  at  the  time  above  mentioned  he  had  ended  his 
account  of  the  betrayal  of  one  of  his  pupils,  he  took  in 
his  hand  a  letter  he  had  just  received,  saying,  "  The  be- 
trayal of  the  faithless  one  is  atoned  for  by  such  noble 
and  true  men  as  the  writer  of  this  letter." 

He  read  some  passages  from  the  letter,  which  was 
from  Professor  von  Leonhardi  of  Heidelberg.  They 
were  the  first  words  I  had  heard  at  that  time  from  my 
true  friend  of  many  long  years.  Froebel  related  with 
deep  feeling  how  Leonhardi  had  devoted  his  whole  life 
and  all  his  powers  to  advocating  and  saving  from  neglect 
the  teachings  of  the  late  philosopher  Krause.  Ever 
since  his  eighteenth  year  he  had  not  hesitated  at  any 
sacrifice  of  every  personal  interest,  even  to  giving  up  his 
paternal  inheritance,  in  order  to  carry  on  the  editorship 
and  spread  of  Krause's  writings,  by  which  the  door  of  truth 
was  first  opened  to  him,  and  whose  enthusiastic  promul- 
gator  he  remained  to  the  last  breath.  To  his  unweary- 
ing activity,  his  rare  power  of  work,  and  his  peerless  per- 
severance, is  chiefly  due  that  the  weighty  heritage  of  the 
great  thinker  was  brought  to  light,  and  numerous  disci- 
ples and  advocates  of  his  doctrine  won  over. 

Leonhardi  left  even  the  material  savings  of  his  simple 
and  unassuming  life  to  the  work  to  which  he  had  devoted 
himself  in  the  interest  of  mankind.  His  property  is 
secured  to  the  establishment  of  a  Krause-foundation, 
whose  work  shall  be  to  spread  his  philosophy  by  word 
and  pen. 


246          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

The  known  agreement  of  Froebel's  views  with  those 
of  Krause  already  made  the  latter  desirous,  as  early  as 
1835,  to  connect  his  efforts  with  those  of  Froebel.* 

This  plan,  which  he  imparted  to  Froebel,  could  not  be 
carried  out,  because  the  scientific  activity  of  Krause  for 
speculative  philosophy  differed  too  much  from  the  educa- 
tional activity  of  Froebel,  which  was  so  entirely  devoted 
to  practical  life.  Yet  Leonhardi  continued  to  remain  a 
true  friend  to  Froebel  and  his  educational  work,  which 
seemed  to  him  best  adapted  to  carry  out  in  the  sense  of 
Krause's  views  the  moral  improvement  and  renovation 
of  human  society. 

So  Leonhardi  neglected  no  opportunity  of  calling 
attention  to  Froebel  and  his  work,  and  afterwards  he 
stood  at  my  side  as  the  most  faithful  helper  and  coun- 
sellor. He  was  one  of  the  first  who  supported  my  plan 
of  founding  a  Universal  Educational  Union,  and  lent  a 
helping  hand  to  promote  it.t  Till  his  death  he  belonged 
to  the  committee  and  supported  its  efforts.  Leonhardi 
was  one  of  those  rare  men  who  devote  themselves  to 
an  idea  throughout  their  whole  existence,  with  a  never 
wavering  conviction  of  it,  from  pure  love  for  truth  and 
humanity.  The  fewer  such  examples  our  time  has  to 
show  of  the  loftiest  self-denial,  the  greater  is  the  duty  of 
rescuing  the  memory  of  such  from  oblivion. 

The  affinity  of  views  between  Froebel  and  Krause  is 
undeniable,  although  the  activity  of  the  two  led  them  in 

*  See  Hanschmann's  biography  of  Froebel. 

t  This  may  account  for  the  widespread  error  that  the  Educational  Union 
arose  out  of  the  Congress  of  Philosophers  of  Krause's  followers.  This  is 
not  the  case.  I  invited  only  a  few  members  of  that  Congress  to  join  the 
Union  I  founded.  See  the  Report  of  the  Congress  of  Philosophers. 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          247 

quite  opposite  directions,  and  each  of  them  construed  an 
idea,  that  was  one  in  essence,  according  to  his  own  the- 
ory. The  view  that  genius  has  picked  up  its  ideas  here 
and  there,  and  has  done  its  work  correctly  only  by  the 
help  of  others,  is  one  of  the  many  perverted  notions  con- 
ceyiing  the  creative  power  of  man,  which  it  falls  to  the 
lot  of  genius  to  bear.  Genius  is  the  most  original  thing 
in  the  world,  and  born  of  God's  mercy  to  receive  the  in- 
spiration of  truth  and  beauty.  But  genius  also  needs 
excitement  and  influence  from  without,  in  order  to  be 
conscious  of  itself  and  the  mission  which  it  is  to  fulfil. 
The  ruling  minds  of  an  epoch  are  spiritually  related,  and 
affect  and  work  upon  each  other,  without  the  peculiar 
stamp  of  each  being  necessarily  effaced. 

So  some  of  Krause's  writings  and  his  personal  ac- 
quaintance had  an  influence  upon  Froebel,  and  here 
and  there  lent  expression  to  his  views,  which  he  found 
so  much  difficulty  in  putting  into  words.  In  regard  to 
this,  it  is  to  be  lamented  that  Froebel  did  appropriate 
many  a  mode  of  expression  from  Krause's  writings,  by 
which  his  own  were  made  unenjoyable  and  anything  but 
clear.  The  same  complaint  may  be  made  of  Krause's 
writings.  Praiseworthy  are  the  efforts  to  purify  the  Ger- 
man language  from  unnecessary  foreign  words,  and  par- 
ticularly to  Germanize  scientific  words ;  but  Krause's 
style  combines  a  great  number  of  different  words  into 
one,  giving  birth  to  real  word-monsters  that  are  ill 
adapted  to  carrying  out  the  contemplated  purpose  of 
clearing  up  ideas.  Particularly  the  idea  taken  from 
Krause  about  the  linking  together  of  parts,  or  articu- 
lation (Gliederung),  seems  to  stand  in  full  contradiction 
to  this  purpose. 


248          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

But  even  genius  is  subject  to  error,  and  often  carries 
its  fundamental  thought  to  its  logical  result  in  a  one- 
sided manner ;  and  from  this  liability  Froebel  cannot  be 
said  to  be  free. 

The  theory  in  which  Froebel  and  Krause  agreed  espe- 
cially is  the  idea  of  the  analogy  existing  between 
organic  development  in  nature  and  organic  develop- 
ment in  the  spiritual  world,  and  according  to  which  the 
historical  development  of  mankind  has  proceeded,  obey- 
ing the  same  laws  as  those  of  nature  and  its  organisms 
(Gleickgesetzigkeif).  The  same  logic  of  the  one  all- 
penetrating  Divine  reason  rules  in  both,  unconscious  in 
the  one  (nature),  conscious  to  itself  in  the  other  (mind). 
Therefore  are  the  opposites  ruling  everywhere,  not  abso- 
lute, but  relative,  and  always  find  their  connection  or 
solution  in  the  process  of  life. 

Mankind,  as  the  highest  organism  of  creation,  is  des- 
tined to  constitute  an  entity  bodily  as  well  as  mentally. 
All  the  domains  of  human  life  are  necessarily  penetrated 
^/ith  one  spirit ;  and,  since  they  are  linked  together  as 
independent  organs,  they  must  form  conscious  parts  of 
the  whole,  which  is  human  society. 

To  that  end,  at  some  future  time,  science,  and  art,  as 
well  as  all  the  active  principles  of  human  life,  justice,  and 
religion  (or  state  and  church),  must  be  penetrated  with  the 
same  spirit  of  troth,  and  with  a  consciousness  of  the  one 
aim  of  serving  humanityperfected  according  to  the  thought 
of  God,  that  is,  "  the  kingdom  of  God  upon  earth."  With 
this  aim,  mutual  love,  penetrating  all  individuals,  must 
unite  them  into  a  living,  self-conscious  whole,  which  then 
represents  a  spiritualized  or  glorified  humanity. 

This  is  something  like  a  popular  statement  of  the  gen- 


REMINISCENCES   OF*  FROEBEL.  249 

eral  theory  of  the  two  contemporary  thinkers.  The  goal 
which  they  place  before  man  is  the  same,  —  the  ideal  of 
human  conditions  and  human  nature.  And  both  recog- 
nize the  correct  development  and  culture  of  the  human 
being,  and  the  improvement  of  all  human  arrangements, 
as  reaching  this  destiny  ;  both  wish  for  moral  improve- 
ment, for  the  renewing  of  human  society. 

Krause,  in  pursuit  of  this  aim,  set  up  a  deeply  pon- 
dered scientific  system,  embracing  all  domains  of  hu- 
man existence,  which,  in  the  sense  of  his  philosophy, 
shall  enlighten  men  upon  their  own  nature  and  destiny, 
and  the  highest  aim  of  all  social  arrangements,  and  de- 
termine, in  conformity  to  that,  the  thinking,  feeling,  and 
acting  of  individuals. 

Froebel,  on  the  contrary,  particularly  occupies  himself 
with  finding  the  germ  of  Divine  reason  in  human  nature 
in  its  unconscious  era ;  and  he  proceeds,  from  the  law 
that  dominates  it  as  an  incontestably  steadfast  one,  to 
rise  to  consciousness  and  freedom  of  spirit.  The  law 
of  development  in  nature  offers  him  the  guide  by  which 
he  may  find  the  law  of  development  in  man,  and  for  the 
spiritual  ordering  of  things.  This  law  becomes  for  him 
the  law  of  education,  according  to  which  God  guides  the 
development  of  man, — of  individuals  as  well  as  of  na- 
tions,—  and  of  humanity  as  a  whole.  He  sees  in  creation 
the  embodied  thoughts  of  God.  These  offer  to  the  yet 
unconscious  mind  of  man  (in  childhood)  reflections  of  his 
own  being,  and  thereby  become  sensuous  images  of  the 
unfolding  spiritual  life,  which,  by  these  symbols  in  the 
physical  world,  rises  to  spiritual  consciousness.* 

*  What  is  spiritual  is  that  which  is  in  communion  with  other  spirits, 
including  God.  —  TRANSLATOR. 


250         REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

The  conformity  of  the  unconscious  (or  the  life  of  im- 
pulse) with  the  reason,  that  determines  the  life  of  mind, 
makes  a  synthesis  between  nature  and  mind,  —  the  mate- 
rial world  and  the  intellectual  world.  The  human  being 
is  the  intermedium  of  unconscious  nature  and  the  all-con- 
scious Mind,  since  it  goes  forth  out  of  unconsciousness  (in 
childhood),  and  belongs  to  this  unconsciousness,  bodily, 
during  its  whole  earthly  life ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  it 
may  be  rising  to  an  ever-higher  degree  of  spiritual  life, 
approaching  the  absolute  self-consciousness  of  God.  In 
short,  human  life  is  the  passing-over  from  unconscious- 
ness to  the  highest  consciousness. 

Krause  takes  his  departure  from  thought,  abstraction, 
in  order  to  explain  the  phenomena  of  the  concrete  world 
in  nature  and  culture,  and  ends  with  the  ideal  or  proto- 
type of  all  the  forms  of  life,  the  realization  of  which  is 
the  ultimate  task  and  final  destiny  of  humanity.  He 
draws  up  the  plan,  as  it  were,  of  the  temple  of  humanity 
in  the  future. 

Froebel,  when  he  teaches  how  the  first  steps  are  to  be 
taken  by  which  to  bring  forth  a  generation  cultivated  in 
conformity  with  nature,  in  which  the  original  idea  of  God 
is  restored  by  man,  points  out  the  way  which  leads  to 
this  temple  of  perfected  humanity,  and  furnishes  the 
material  for  building  it ;  and  thus  the  first  condition  is 
fulfilled  by  which  the  highest  ideal  can  be  brought  to 
ripeness. 

To  reach  this  end,  he  goes  back  to  the  fountain-head 
and  origin  of  all  life  in  its  germinating  time,  in  order  to 
seek  there  its  primary  roots  and  the  NORM  of  its  develop- 
ment. Only  the  life  still  fettered  by  necessity  shows 
significantly  and  clearly  what  is  the  law  that  rules  every- 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          251 

thing,  because  all  caprice  is  shut  out  from  it.  It  is  the 
freedom  of  conscious  being  which  conditions  its  oppo- 
site, unconsciousness  and  bondage,  since  only  its  own 
striving,  which  it  needs  in  order  to  break  its  fetters,  can 
lead  to  freedom,  —  that  is,  to  that  freedom  which  recog- 
nizes law  as  its  first  principle,  and  submits  to  it  con- 
sciously. 

The  highest  goal  of  human  development  —  the  com- 
pletion of  full-grown  humanity  —  demands  the  highest 
degree  of  self-consciousness.  This  self-consciousness 
implies  self-knowledge  as  a  condition,  and  self-knowl- 
edge is  only  attainable  through  self-activity.  In  the 
products  of  his  activity  man  recognizes  himself  and  his 
power,  just  as  God,  the  Creator,  manifests  himself  in  the 
works  of  creation. 

For  the  works  of  man,  as  well  as  for  the  formation  of 
the  organism  of  human  society,  nothing  less  than  the  law 
of  formation  which  determines  all  the  works  of  creation 
can  be  adequate.  Therefore  this  law  is  the  principle  of 
all  human  creation  ;  and  every  individual  must  be  pene- 
trated by  it,  in  order  to  be  able  to  contribute  his  part  to 
the  building-up  of  humanity  as  a  whole. 

The  life  of  the  unconscious,  consequently  human  life 
in  the  stage  of  unconsciousness  (childhood),  is  deter- 
mined exclusively  by  the  principle  of  law,  the  law  of 
nature.  To  teach  children  who  are  rising  out  of  the 
unconscious  era  into  the  conscious,  to  apply  this  princi- 
ple of  law  which  dwells  in  them  to  their  own  doing  and 
producing,  serves  to  make  it  objective  to  them  and  causes 
it  to  be  recognized,  as  they  grow  in  intelligence,  as  the 
rule  of  all  formation.  Only  by  such  experimental  knowl- 
edge is  the  human  mind  made  capable  of  taking  part, 
intelligently,  in  the  new  building-up  of  human  society. 


252         REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

The  rough,  unspiritualized  masses  cannot  do  this,  and 
they  hinder  those  members  of  society  who  are  conscious 
of  themselves  as  men,  from  being  able  to  work  success- 
fully for  perfection. 

It  is  therefore  and  must  ever  remain  an  essential  con- 
dition of  all  progress-  to  furnish  for  all  members  of  society 
some  degree  of  this  intelligence  in  regard  to  human  na- 
ture, human  destiny,  and  human  perfectibility.  There- 
fore the  task  of  the  time  is  the  solution  of  the  problem 
of  universal  culture. 

Krause  strives  for  this  solution  by  teaching  adults, 
already  cultivated  and  thinking  beings,  that  is,  the  fa- 
vored minority,  whose  part  in  life  is  to  protect  and 
increase  the  treasures  of  science  for  mankind. 

Froebel  wished  to  lay  an  educational  foundation  for 
all,  within  the  individual  limits  set  by  nature,  that  all  may 
by  degrees,  if  only  in  the  course  of  centuries,  help  the 
whole  sum  of  human  powers  and  tendencies  to  their  de- 
velopment,'  in  the  interest  of  the  whole  human  race. 
And  he  wished  to  lay  this  foundation  at  a  time  of  life 
which,  till  now,  had  been  left  without  that  systematic 
support  of  the  mental  powers  which  we  .call  education, 
namely,  in  the  .  earliest  childhood.  The  fundamental 
principles  of  his  method  may  be  summarized  something 
as  follows :  — 

1.  The  period  of  unconscious  impulse,  that  comes  but 
once  in  life,  being  the  beginning  of  the  whole  develop- 
ment of  every  man,  is  the  most  important  moment  for 
educational  influence. 

2.  As  the  conduct  and  discipline  of  the  mental  pow- 
ers at  the  school  age  of  children  are,  in  conformity  to 
the  destiny  of  rational  beings,  methodical,  so  the  guidance 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          253 

of  the  mental  powers  in  the  unconscious  era  preceding 
the  school  age  needs  even  far  more  to  be  methodical 
than  the  succeeding  years,  which  have  already  reached  a 
certain  degree  of  intelligence,  because  the  spiritual  in- 
stinct of  the  unconscious  period,  far  more  than  the  in- 
stinct of  animals,  lacks  all  power  of  reaction. 

3.  Impressions  of  the  concrete  world  made  on  the 
unconscious  child,  who  is  stimulated  by  them  to  the  act 
of  perception,  form  the  beginning  for  the  later  knowl- 
edge, which  is  the  beginning  of  consciousness. 

4.  Things  can  only  be  perceived  in  the  properties  of 
form,  color,  size,  number,  weight,  sound,  etc.,  common  to 
all  things,  and  to  impress  each  of  these  properties  one 
thing  is  chosen  in  order  to  exemplify  it  in  the  simplest 
and  most  striking  manner ;  an  A  B  C  of  things  is  thus 
learned,  which  consists  of  only  about  half  the  number  of 
the  letters  of  the  alphabet. 

5.  The  methodical  use  of  this  A  B  C  of  things  —  in 
the  first  childish  activity  of  play  —  affords  a  means  of 
help,  like  those  which  the  school  applies  for  its  various 
disciplines  of  instruction  (namely,  the  selection  of  ap- 
propriate materials  and  their  order  and  division.     Thus, 
for  example,  in  geography,  the  division  of  the  land  into 
mountainous  chains,  water  basins,  etc. ;  in  history,  the 
division  into  epochs  ;  in  natural  history  the  division  of 
the  species  of  plants  into  orders,  families,  etc.). 

There  is  no  other  way  to  give  the  mind  a  clear 
view  of  a  multitude  of  things,  than  to  compare  multi- 
plicity, variety,  and  manifoldness  with  unity  or  univer- 
sality, in  order  to  make  prominent  that  which  is  common 
to  all  the  parts  (fundamental  forms  or  types)  which  bring 
out  this  common  property  in  the  simplest  manner.  But 


254          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

if  the  comparatively  matured  mind  needs  this  help  of  clas- 
sification, how  much  more  must  it  be  needed  by  the 
child's  mind  in  the  first  stages  of  its  development ! 

6.  Matu/ed  thinking,   and   particularly   philosophical 
thinking,    rests   upon   simple,    determined   fundamental 
conceptions ;  for  example,  the  conceptions  of  unity,  va- 
riety, being,  growth,  time,   space,  connection,  relation, 
etc.     All  these  are  abstractions  deduced  from  things  in 
the  world  of  phenomena.     In  other  words,  fundamental 
receptions   must   correspond    to   definite   fundamental 
/^rceptions,  which  have  preceded  them  either  consciously 
or  unconsciously. 

In  Froebel's  system,  the  perception  of  the  form  of  the 
ball  corresponds  to  the  idea  of  unity.  Space  is  designated 
by  the  limiting  of  space.  The  conception  of  time  is  ex- 
pressed by  the  succession  of  facts  in  the  past,  present, 
and  future.  It  makes  a  great  difference  whether  such 
perceptions  are  acquired  in  childhood  clearly  and  defi- 
nitely, with  conscious  intention,  or  are  left  to  chance. 

7.  Such  things  are  to  be  offered  for  the  first  observa- 
tion of  the  mind  as  will  afford  appropriate  fundamental 
perceptions    for    subsequent    fundamental    receptions. 
Thus  is  gained  an  immediate  connection  between  con- 
ception (abstraction)  and  sensuous  perception.     A  logical 
chain  connects  the  impression  which  originates  human 
thinking  with  the  end,  or  conception.     Clear  observation 
and  clear  representation  lead  to  comparison  and  clear 
conclusions,  and  thus  to  clear  logical  thinking. 

8.  To  reach  this  result,  merely  the  rightly  chosen  ob- 
jects (types)  are  not  enough,  there  must  also  be  the  right 
treatment   or   use  of  them  in  order   to   give  .the  first 
acquaintance  with  the  material  world.     By  such  activity 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  255 

the  first  experiences  and  the  first  technics  of  the  human 
hand  are  acquired, "or  an  A  B  C  of  work  which,  together 
with  the  exercise  of  the  sense  of  beauty,  gives  a  simulta- 
neous preparation  for  art. 

9.  Only  a  methodical  mode  of  education,  which  is 
founded  upon  the  knowledge  of  the  natural  progress  of 
intellectual  development,  and  applies  to  the  human  being 
the  same  principle  of  law,  according  to  which  all  and 
every  development  in  the  universe  proceeds,  is  a  mode 
of  education  adapted  to  the  nature  of  the  human  being 
on  the  one  hand,  and  conformable  to  outward  nature  on 
the  other. 

This  mode  of  education  discovered  by  Froebel  may  be 
called  a  philosophical  pedagogy,  since  it  requires  intelli- 
gent comparison  of  the  nature  of  man  and  of  his  rela- 
tions to  the  world  and  to  God ;  and  the  highest  goal  of 
human  perfectibility  is  predetermined  by  the  first  steps 
of  the  yet  unconscious  human  soul. 

Since  the  practice  of  this  mode  of  education  is  placed 
specially  in  the  hands  of  women,  it  may  be  called  the 
philosophy  for  women.  It  is  specially  a  philosophy  for 
practical  life,  and  it  receives  its  whole  significance  only 
by  an  immediate  application. 

This  shows  the  opposite  direction  of  the  work  of  Froe- 
bel to  that  of  the  purely  scientific  system  of  Krause. 
The  task  of  the  latter  is  the  clearing  up  of  the  minds  of 
thinking  adult  men  upon  their  relations  to  nature,  human- 
ity, and  God,  —  the  fixing  of  the  conceptions  upon  every- 
thing which  occupies  the"  mind  of  man  upon  the  institu- 
tions which  he  has  been  called  upon  to  realize  upon  earth, 
and  upon  his  own  being  and  its  highest  destiny ;  while 
Froebel  has  to  do  with  the  guidance  of  the  yet  uncon- 


256          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

scious  human  soul  in  order  to  lead  it  intelligently  to  the 
highest  goal. 

The  views  of  both  these  philosophers  combat  the  pres- 
ent prevailing  materialism  without  denying  that  true  side 
of  it  which  respects  the  reason  that  rules  in  nature,  and 
its  concurrence  with  the  human  mind.  On  the  contrary, 
the  ideas  upon  the  personality  of  this  mind,  consequently 
of  its  immortality  and  eternal  progress,  and  especially 
upon  religious  truth  so  far  as  it  has  been  revealed  to  the 
human  mind,  are  eternally  and  unshakably  established 
by  both  Krause  and  Froebel. 

This  view  of  things  is  not  only  a  negation  of  material- 
istic errors,  but  it  points  out  at  the  same  time  the  means 
and  connection  through  which  the  opposites  of  mind  and 
nature,  as  absolute,  are  resolved,  without  risking  a  single 
one  of  the  truths  in  the  kingdom  of  the  mind.  This 
view,  then,  offers  to  the  present  time  a  remedy  against 
the  prevailing  errors  which  have  arisen  from  misunder- 
stood truth. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

TEACHERS'   CONVENTION. 

IN  September  of  1851  every  member  of  our  circle  was 
occupied  with  gaining  participants  in  the  impending 
Teachers'  Convention,  which  had  been  planned  and  pre- 
pared for  the  past  few  months,  and  was  appointed  for  the 
27 -29th  instant.  Every  promise  of  participation  which 
came  was  a  message  of  joy  to  Froebel.  The  prohibition 
which  had  been  decreed  against  kindergartens  gave  only 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  257 

greater  importance  to  the  coming  investigation  of  the 
Froebelian  method  by  specialists,  and  Froebel  entertained 
the  hope  of  again  seeing  his  idea  brought  publicly  into 
estimation  through  favorable  judgments  of  it. 

Diesterweg,  who  had  already  been  in  Liebenstein  in 
the  early  summer,  came  now  again  among  the  first  ar- 
rivals, and  Middendorff  soon  followed. 

Many  were  the  councils  held  at  my  residence  upon  the 
order  of  the  proceedings,  the  contents  of  the  essays  to 
be  read  by  Froebel,  and  the  reports  to  be  contributed  by 
existing  institutions,  etc. 

I  begged  Diesterweg  to  take  charge  of  the  parf  as- 
signed to  me  upon  the  progress  of  the  cause  in  Berlin, 
that  greater  weight  might  be  imparted  to  it  by  his  au- 
thority in  the  pedagogic  world. 

Rector  Kohler,  of  Corbach  (not  to  be  confounded 
with  the  later  advocate  of  Froebel's  educational  system, 
August  Kohler,  of  Gotha),  came  a  few  days  before  the 
assembling  of  the  convention  and  took  part  in  our  pre- 
liminary discussions.  He  engaged  one  of  Froebel's 
pupils  at  that  time,  Sophia  Seibt,  to  be  the  conduc  or  of 
a  kindergarten  he  had  undertaken  to  raise.  This  lady 
subsequently  became  his  wife. 

The  loyalty  and  reliability  which  were  expressed  in  the 
personality  of  this  man  awakened  the  hope  of  gaining  in 
him  a  powerful  support  to  the  cause,  a  hope  which  was 
fulfilled  for  a  short  time  only,  as,  alas!  he  was  taken 
from  this  work  by  death  a  few  years  later. 

Among  the  expected  guests  was  Director  Marquard, 
of  Dresden,  one  of  the  well-known  advocates  and  vet- 
erans of  Froebel's  cause,  who  had  already  founded  a  kin- 
dergarten in  Dresden,  in  company  with  Adolph  Franken- 
burg,  which  was  excellently  carried  on  by  his  wife. 


258          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

Marquard  was  also  the  first  who  introduced  the  method 
into  his  school,  and  gave  his  support  to  the  cause  persist- 
ently and  faithfully  with  much  activity  and  self-sacrifice. 

Among  the  teachers  who  came  were  Herr  Stangen- 
berger,  who  at  that  time  prepared  the  lessons  for  Froe- 
bel's  stick-laying;  Herr  Posche;  Herr  Heinrich  Hoffmann 
from  Hamburg,  conductor  of  a  kindergarten  there ;  two 
young  rising  naturalists,  Dr.  Karl  Miiller,  and  Dr.  Otto 
Ule,  afterwards  editor  of  the  widespread  periodical  "Na- 
ture,' and  whose  name  is  now  numbered  among  those 
distinguished  in  science ;  the  Consistorial  Counsellor,  Dr. 
Peter,  and  Deacon  Miiller,  both  from  Meiningen ;  and 
many  others.  From  the  region  around  Liebenstein,  out 
of  city  and  village,  a  great  number  of  teachers  and  some 
clergymen  were  fqund,  and  Minister  von  Wydenbrugk, 
as  he  had  promised. 

Among  the  kindergartners  who  participated  (Froebel's 
earlier  scholars),  I  was  specially-interested  in  seeing  Hen- 
rietta Breymann,  one  of  Froebel's  favorite  pupils,  who  at 
that  time  had  charge  of  a  kindergarten  founded  by  the 
Sattler  family  in  Schweinfurth.  I  had  become  acquainted 
with  her  at  the  time  of  my  first  knowledge  of  Froebel, 
and  was  delighted  by  her  amiability,  her  talents,  and  her 
zeal  for  the  cause.  More  and  more  intimate  as  time 
went  on,  we  often  worked  together,  especially  in  Brussels, 
where  I  invited  her  during  my  residence  there  to  under- 
take the  instruction  in  Froebel's  method  for  a  six  months' 
course,  arranged  by  the  suggestion  of  a  number  of  teach- 
ers, and  at  the  same  time  to  take  part  in  a  kindergarten 
instituted  there. 

Fraulein  Breymann  (now  Frau  Schrader  in  Berlin,  wife 
of  the  railroad  director)  is  one  of  those  advocates  of 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  259 

Froebel's  education  who  hold  fast  to  the  method,  and 
strive  to  overcome  that  which  generally  in  its  practice  is 
merely  mechanical ;  and  to  keep  up  its  true  spirit. 

The  institution  founded  by  her  and  her  sisters  in  Wat- 
zum,  near  Wolfenbuttel,  was  the  first  known  to  me  which 
took  up  Froebel's  method  for  part  of  its  programme,  as  a 
necessary  branch  of  instruction  for  general  female  culture, 
and  carried  it  through  successfully.  Frau  Schrader  agreed 
with  me  in  considering  the  training  of  the  female  sex  for 
its  educational  calling  in  Froebel's  method  as  the  first 
condition  of  making  it  useful  in  the  general  reform  of 
education.  In  this  sense  she  works  with  her  husband, 
who  is  a  true  follower  and  clear-sighted  advocate  of  the 
cause,  in  our  Universal  Educational  Union,  which  is  striv- 
ing specially  to  secure  the  chief  end  of  the  reform  by  the 
complete  application  of  the  method.  She  is  also  one  of 
the  decided  opponents  of  the  ever  wider-spreading  super- 
ficiality in  the  cultivation  of  kindergartners,  which  is  now 
thought  to  be  a  purely  mechanical  calling,  with  the  time 
of  learning  the  art  reduced  to  a  few  months,  while  a  year 
is  scarcely  long  enough  for  the  majority  of  the  somewhat 
uncultivated  young  girls  who  study  it. 

There  were  also  a  few  kindergartners  present  from 
other  places,  beside  the  pupils  then  attending  the  Mari- 
enthal  institution, —  Fraulein  Traberth  from  Eisenach, 
Fraulein  Kramer  from  Philippsthal,  Fraulein  Bohmann, 
and  some  others. 

In  the  convention  which  was  opened  on  the  morning 
of  the  2yth,  in  the  hall  of  the  Liebenstein  Baths,  a  warm 
and  lively  sympathy  prevailed,  and  every  individual  was 
intent  upon  expressing  recognition  of  Froebel,  and  mak- 
ing him  forget  the  injustice  of  the  prohibition.  The 


260         REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

presence  and  accord  of  Diesterweg,  who  took  the  chair 
on  the  first  day,  contributed  specially  to  this  spirit,  and 
also  to  make  favorable  to  the  cause  those  who  stood  a 
little  apart  from  it. 

There  was  but  slight  opposition ;  and  no  discord  dis- 
turbed the  assembly.  The  majority  of  the  participants  were 
penetrated  by  the  conviction  that  a  reform  of  education  was 
incontrovertibly  necessary,  and  that  the  new  foundation 
required  was  afforded  by  the  method  of  Froebel. 

After  Diesterweg  had  spoken  a  few  words  of  welcome, 
he  opened  the  assembly  as  its  chairman,  and  spoke  of  our 
work  in  Berlin.  Then  followed  various  reports  from  exist- 
ing kindergartens  by  their  conductors,  in  which  Froebel 
and  Middendorff  joined.  As  Diesterweg  had  already 
spoken  of  our  activity  in  Berlin,  and  as  there  were  many 
discussions,  and  I  was  at  that  time  suffering  from  sore 
throat,  I  declined  making  any  special  communication 
about  my  personal  activity.* 

The  statement  of  his  efforts,  which  Froebel  made  on 
the  afternoon  of  the  first  day  of  the  Convention  with  the 
most  peculiar  vividness  and  impressiveness,  and  with  the 
deepest  conviction  of  their  value,  made  a  universal  im- 
pression and  called  out  great  unanimity  of  opinion.  He 
did  not  enter  deeply  into  the  fundamental  idea  of  his 
method  that  finds  so  little  comprehension,  but  brought 
out  especially  the  practical  side,  —  the  early  use  of  the 
child's  powers  for  manipulation  and  productive  activity. 

The  proof  of  the  possibility  of  leading  the  activity  of 
the  child  to  the  elements  of  all  work  in  its  very  earliest 
years  by  playful  occupations,  was  given  by  a  great  quan- 

*  See  further  in  regard  to  this  Convention,  in  Hanschmann's  "  Friedrich 
Froebel." 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  26 1 

tity  of  articles  from  kindergartens,  plaited,  folded,  pricked, 
cut,  and  drawn  with  and  upon  paper  and  other  materials, 
which  lay  spread  .out  upon  the  table.  They  had  been 
sent  from  the  various  kindergartens  and  some  village 
schools  in  that  region.  That  teacher  from  Steinbach 
who  had  promised  Froebel  the  work  of  the  school-chil- 
dren, had  laid  out  a  great  variety  of  figures  cut  from 
paper,  the  majority  of  which  were  free  inventions  of  the 
village  children,  and  were  distinguished  by  their  beauty 
of  form,  sureness  of  hand,  and  neatness  of  execution. 

"  How  much  might  be  gained  for  the  universal  moral 
improvement  of  the  people,"  I  said  to  Minister  von 
Wydenbrugk,  who  was  sitting  near  me,  "  if  the  sense  of 
beauty  and  skilfulness  of  hand  were  cultivated  in  all  the 
village  schools ! " 

"  Only  let  all  the  teachers  be  prepared  for  their  calling 
as  well  as  those  whose  children  have  produced  this 
remarkable  work  of  their  schools,  with  their  freedom  from 
all  pretensions,"  was  his  reply. 

"Yes,"  I  said;  "what  the  mothers  are  to  do  on  one 
side  and  the  teachers  on  the  other  can  alone  bring  t»he 
new  education  into  life." 

"But  how  is  it  possible,"  said  an  unmarried,  very  highly 
cultivated,  and  gifted  lady  who  sat  near  me,  "  to  be  so 
uninterruptedly  occupied  with  children  and  their  plays  ? 
Are  these  occupations  so  charming  ? " 

"  Indeed,"  I  replied,  "  if  it  were  only  the  play  and  the 
mere  outward  apparatus,  the  occupation  might  well  be 
tedious.  But  the  idea  at  the  foundation  of  it,  and  the 
contemplation  of  the  being  of  man  and  its  development 
in  the  child  is  an  inexhaustible  mine  of  interesting  dis- 
covery. Originality  alone  is  always  interesting,  and  where 


262  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

is  it  to  be  found  as  in  the  child  ?  Then  the  task  of  improv- 
ing education  is  one  of  the  most  important  tasks  of  our 
time,  particularly  for  us  women,  and  ijs  truly  worth  some 
sacrifices.  It  seems  to  me  to  be  the  holiest  duty  of 
every  one  who  bears  within  himself  a  spark  of  genuine 
humanity." 

As  it  was  late,  the  discussion  of  Froebel's  statement 
was  postponed  till  the  next  day,  and  the  evening  was  de- 
voted to  social  intercourse. 

On  the  following  morning,  Counsellor  Peter  opened 
the  assembly  as  chairman,  and  Froebel's  method  was 
then  thoroughly  discussed. 

Middendorff  spoke  warmly  and  beautifully  upon  the 
great  influence  of  women  as  the  educators  of  humanity, 
and  invited  the  kindergartners  who  were  present  to  take 
part  in  the  discussion,  with  which  request  a  few  of  them 
complied. 

The  discussion  was  principally  confined  to  the  prac- 
tical application  of  Froebel's  materials  without  entering 
further  into  the  fundamental  idea  which  contains  the  germ 
of  the  whole  matter.  This  was  quite  natural,  considering 
the  superficial  acquaintance  with  the  subject  on  the  part 
of  the  majority  of  those  present,  but  it  left  me  somewhat 
dissatisfied  with  the  result  of  the  discussion,  which  did 
not  bring  to  light  prominently  what  was  characteristic 
and  really  new  in  the  method. 

The  many  plays  of  the  children  of  our  Liebenstein 
kindergarten  in  the  afternoon  of  that  day  did  not  fail  to 
illuminate  the  most  serious  faces,  and  to  call  forth  the 
greatest  enthusiasm  and  applause,  to  Froebel's  great  de- 
light; and  when  his  pupils,  in  the  evening,  under  the 
guidance  of  Madame  Froebel,  executed  some  of  them  in 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          263 

the  hall,  the  majority  of  those  present  joined  in  and 
played  and  sang  merrily  like  the  children.  Nothing  is 
more  contagious  than  the  love  of  play  in  old  and  young ! 
Froebel  himself  took  part  in  conducting,  and  even  Dies- 
terweg  entered  the  ring.  No  gay  ball  could  have  passed 
more  pleasantly  than  the  social  play  of  that  evening,  which 
turned  every  one  back  into  a  child,  enjoying  the  present 
moment  in  the  most  innocent  manner. 

Diesterweg,  who  took  part  in  everything  "joyfully,"  as 
he  said,  turned  to  me  with  these  words  :  "  Now  we  are 
all  children  to-day,  Frau  von  Marenholz,  so  you  must  be 
satisfied  with  us  ! "  He  referred  to  a  remark  I  had  made, 
— how  little  every  one  understood  Froebel's  idea,  because 
every  one  forgets  how  he  had  been  a  child,  and  what  was 
wanting  to  him  as  a  child. 

Middendorff  said:  "This  is  like  a  fresh  bath  for  the 
human  soul,  when  we  dare  to  be  children  again  with  chil- 
dren. The  burdens  of  life  could  not  be  borne  if  it  were 
not  for  real  gayety  of  heart." 

We  were  all  astonished  that  Froebel,  at  his  years,  bore 
this  straining  of  all  his  powers  so  long  without  being 
wearied,  when  so  many  claims  were  made  upon  him. 
But  he  met  us  again  the  next  morning  fresh  and  cheerful, 
and  was  particularly  pleased  by  the  "Declaration"  of  the 
pedagogues  present,  in  regard  to  his  educational  views, 
that  had  been  agreed  upon  among  themselves. 

But  the  judgment  was  in  too  general  terms  to  give 
prominence  to  the  kernel  of  the  matter,  and  that  which 
was  really  new  in  it.  It  could  hardly  be  otherwise,  as  it 
was  impossible  in  the  space  of  a  few  hours  to  throw  light 
upon  all  sides  of  the  subject,  and  really  penetrate  to  the 
depths  of  the  idea.  In  spite  of  this  lack  it  was  of  great 


264  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

significance  that  immediately  after  the  prohibition  this 
favorable  "  Declaration "  was  made  public,  and  was 
signed  by  men  like  Diesterweg. 

The  points  in  the  "  Declaration  "  were  that  Froebel's 
educational  system  was  far  removed  from  all  partisanship 
and  every  one-sided  tendency ;  that  it  must  be  looked 
upon  as  a  deeper  foundation  of  both  theoretical  and 
practical  education  ;  that  it  promised  essentially  to  ad- 
vance school  culture  ;  and  that  it  had  proved  itself  par- 
ticularly fitted  to  improve  family  education  through  the 
culture  of  women  for  their  educational  calling,  which  it 
involved. 

These  statements  under  the  existing  circumstances  of 
misapprehension  were  of  the  greatest  importance,  and 
would  have  gained  more  for  the  cause  in  influential  cir- 
cles, if  people  had  not  been  at  that  time  so  much  ab- 
sorbed in  political  matters. 

After  the  "  Declaration  "  was  read  the  propositions  of 
the  Assembly  were  that  Froebel  should  write  an  essay 
upon  his  system,  publish  a  "  Kindergarten  Guide  "  for 
teachers,  and  establish  a  new  periodical. 

After  Froebel  had  expressed  his  willingness  to  work 
for  these  ends,  the  meeting  was  closed. 

Froebel,  alas  !  was  never  able  to  perform  his  promises. 
The  "  periodical  "  for  Fr.  Froebel's  cause  was  put  under 
the  editorship  of  Director  Marquard,  and  by  the  co-opera- 
tion of  us  all  was  published  before  the  end  of  the  year. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  third  day  of  the  Convention 
many  discussions  were  held,  and  the  last  reports  of  in- 
stitutions were  brought  in. 

Those  participants  in  it  who  did  not  intend  to  leave 
the  place  the  next  day  made  a  party  to  visit  the  sur- 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          265 

rounding  country,  and  the  two  young  naturalists,  Dr.  Ule 
and  Dr.  Miiller,  were  invited  to  speak  upon  the  charac- 
teristic points  of  nature  in  Thuringia. 

On  the  following  day,  in  the  clear  warm  summer 
weather,  this  excursion  to  the  neighboring  mountains 
took  place,  and  well  provided  with  lunches,  we  made  a 
halt  in  the  neighborhood  of  Gerberstein,  in  order,  after 
taking  these  refreshments,  to  hear  the  promised  essays 
of  the  two  naturalists. 

Dr.  Ule  spoke  of  the  formation  of  the  Thuringian 
mountains,  their  supposed  origin,  the  law  exemplified  by 
them,  and  upon  the  latest  scientific  theories  of  the  devel- 
opment of  the  earth. 

Dr.  Miiller  spoke  of  the  vegetation  of  Thuringia,  and 
went  on 'to  the  general  development  of  the  plant-world, 
pointing  out  the  connection  of  their  orders  and  families, 
which  showed  the  trees  of  the  woods  and  the  tiniest 
mosses  at  their  feet  to  be  an  unbroken  chain  of  organic 
formation. 

At  the  close  of  the  essays,  a  lively  discussion  of  them 
took  place  among  the  listeners,  who  took  great  interest 
in  them. 

The  region  lying  around  us  on  a  high  plateau  in  the 
woods,  in  the  midst  of  broken  rocks  scattered  wildly 
around,  surrounded  by  ancient  oaks,  beeches,  and  pine 
forests  dressed  in  their  autumnal  pomp  of  coloring,  af- 
forded the  most  fitting  place  in  which  to  speak  of  their 
size  and  their  wonders. 

Although  Darwin's  theory  was  unknown  at  that  time, 
the  discussion  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  ma- 
terialistic theories  of  the  world  had  begun,  and  the  pre- 
ludes to  this  theory  which  for  the  most  part  prevails 


2 66  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

now,  resounded  with  old  and  new  hypotheses.  Every 
new  idea  which  is  expressed  finds  itself  suggested  in  the 
opinions,  presentiments,  or  suppositions  of  the  atmos- 
phere of  the  time,  before  it  is  concentrated  into  a  focus 
by  one  mind,  and  then  uttered  in  a  definite  form.  So 
with  the  theory  of  Darwin,  which  is  now  turned  to  base 
uses,  and  is  perverted,  by  consequences  deduced  in  a 
one-sided  manner  from  it,  to  the  strangest  caricatures  of 
truth.  Every  truth  becomes  absurd  when  carried  out  to 
an  extreme  in  a  one-sided  manner. 

Middendorff,  with  his  deep  faith  and  pious  feelings, 
was  hurt  by  some  expressions  of  those  present,  which 
were  in  opposition  to  his  religious  sentiments,  and  turn- 
ing to  me,  he  remarked  :  "  How  is  it  possible  to  speak 
of  the  wonders  of  nature,  of  such  a  gloriously  built  uni- 
verse, of  the  order  and  connection  ruling  it,  showing  the 
wisdom,  goodness,  and  power  of  the  Creator,  with  aston- 
ishment and  conviction,  and  at  the  same  time  to  think  so 
sceptically  of  the  existence  of  God  and  all  supersen- 
suous  things ! " 

"  Yes,"  I  replied ;  "  one  would  think  the  investigation 
of  nature  more  than  anything  else  must  lead  to  the 
irrefragable  conviction  of  God  and  his  eternal  reason 
penetrating  everything  and  ruling  everything.  But  we 
see  it  is  not  so  always,  and  that  even  the  astronomers 
who  investigate  the  wonders  of  the  universe  in  all  its 
magnificent  extent  can  be  sceptics  and  deny  God.  Per- 
haps the  human  mind  is  not  yet  far  enough  developed  to 
be  able  to  perceive  the  various  sides  of  truth  at  once. 
Even  genius  cannot  comprehend  everything.  Natural 
science  and  philosophy  are  more  or  less  hostile  to  re- 
ligion, although  both  investigate  the  causes  of  things. 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          267 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  our  time  and  our  eagerness  for 
knowledge  will  give  a  new  impetus,  that  spirit  and  nature 
will  come  nearer  to  their  reconciliation." 

Froebel,  who  heard  the  last  words,  stepped  nearer  and 
said  :  "  No,  that  cannot  happen  yet.  Contrasts  must  come 
forth  in  their  whole  sharpness,  in  order  to  be  connected 
and  balanced  :  you  are  right ;  the  mind  of  the  individual 
cannot  comprehend  everything.  We  are  not  so  far  on 
yet.  Each  one  must  work  out  his  own  little  piece  of 
work.  When  the  intellectual  working  of  many  races 
shall  be  brought  together  and  rightly  connected,  a  new 
result  will  be  reached.  Then  even  one-sided  views  and 
the  contradictions  growing  out  of  them  will  be  brought 
into  harmony.  Let  the  empirics  work  in  their  quarries ; 
they  will  bring  treasures  to  light  which  are  also  neces- 
sary." 

"It  appears  to  me,"  said  I,  "  that  the  investigators  of 
nature  who  work  in  the  dark  mines  of  the  material 
world  by  the  light  of  their  own  lanterns,  and  imagine 
that  there  is  nothing  brighter,  no  sunlight,  must  some 
time  or  other  break  through  the  surface  above,  when 
they  can  no  longer  deny  the  brighter  light  of  the 
sun." 

Froebel  remarked  :  "  The  time  has  come  when  man 
must  recognize  his  relations  to  nature,  to  the  material 
world,  and  at  the  same  time  to  the  spirit  of  God  which 
rules  in  them.  It  is  on  that  account  necessary  that  the 
investigation  of  mind  should  be  specially  active  on  that 
side,  and  also  in  a  one-sided  manner.  The  other  sides 
of  truth  will  consequently  be  in  the  dark,  and  disappear 
entirely  from  the  eyes  of  many.  The  knowledge  of  the 
recent  past  is  held  firmly  by  others,  and  alone  recognized 
as  truth. 


268  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

"  These  contrasts  evoke  the  necessary  conflicts  which 
are  demanded  for  the  knowledge  of  truth.  The  truth 
is  not  changed  by  it ;  that  remains  one  and  the  same, 
but  we  cannot  perceive  it  in  its  wholeness  and  ab- 
soluteness, hence  God  reveals  it  but  partially  to  us  at 
different  times  and  in  different  stages  of  our  develop- 
ment." 

"  Certainly,"  I  said,  "  and  one  part  of  truth  cannot 
contradict  another  part,  since  they  belong  together. 
Therefore,  it  is  always  so  strange  to  me  that  a  new  truth 
is  looked  upon  as  a  destroyer  of  the  old  one.  Many 
now  imagine  that  they  must  look  upon  the  eternal  truths 
of  Christianity  as  overcome  and  effaced,  in  order  that  a 
way  may  be  opened  for  new  scientific  discoveries  in  the 
kingdom  of  nature,  without  having  the  conception  that 
every  new  truth  must  confirm  the  old  one  before  it  can 
prove  itself  to  be  truth.  But  you  are  right ;  the  contra- 
dictions arise  out  of  one-sided  comprehension,  and  it 
may  be  necessary  to  real  and  deeper  knowledge  that  the 
doubt  should  come  up  and  battle  with  views,  often  con- 
fused views,  of  an  earlier  recognized  truth.  The  result 
can  be  nothing  else  than  the  victory  of  truth,  or  the  bal- 
ancing of  contradictions  by  the  recognition  of  every  side 
of  truth,  and  the  necessary  completion  of  the  old  view  by 
the  new  one." 

Middendorff  replied  to  this  :  "  The  right  faith,  as  I 
understand  it,  cannot  be  disturbed  by  the  fragmentary 
and  contradictory  knowledge  of  human  science.  The 
quiet  certainty  of  that  which  is  written  in  our  souls  as 
truth,  and  confirmed  by  historical  revelation,  can  still 
exist,  even  if  science  brings  to  light  seeming  contradic- 
tions to  it.  We  know  that  many  such  contradictions 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          269 

have  been  explained,  and  true  science  must  ever  rectify 
itself  by  further  development  of  its  knowledge. 

"  I  recognize,  as  Froebel  does,  the  same  Divine  mind 
in  nature  as,  in  man  and  the  history  of  his  development, 
and  I  am  also  persuaded  that  we  can  go  no  further  at 
present  without  new  knowledge  of  the  relations  between 
ourselves  and  our  development  with  that  of  the  Divine 
nature.  What  I  believe  and  how  I  believe  it  is  therefore 
in  no  wise  disturbed,  and  I  always  think  ;  surely  you  will 
also  already  come  to  recognize  the  law  in  nature  and  its 
material  to  be  the  same  Divine  law  that  rules  in  the 
world  of  spirit,  and  which  is  the  law  of  an  all  loving  and 
therefore  self-conscious  Father !  " 

"Yes,  certainly,"  I  agreed;  "the  truths  of  the  natural 
world  are  a  part  of  religious  truth,  and  it  is  only  the  tran- 
sition to  a  higher  knowledge  of  truth  that  occasions  the 
momentary  disagreement  between  the  knowledge  of  na- 
ture and  of  God,  and  sets  the  revelation  in  the  material 
world  in  opposition  to  the  revelation  in  the  spiritual 
world.  Experience  in  both  domains  must  lead  to  simi- 
lar revelation  of  truth,  which  remains  forever  one  and 
eternal." 

"  How  beautifully  our  young  men  spoke  upon  the  or- 
ganic connection  in  the  universe ! "  said  Middendorff. 
"  The  harmony  that  is  expressed  in  it  should  alone  be 
enough  to  testify  to  the  ruling  of  a  holy  Providence." 

"  It  has  never  come  to  me  more  significantly,"  I  re- 
plied, "  how  Froebel's  education  must  help  one  to  find 
harmony  between  spirit  and  nature.  If  the  child's  mind, 
through  his  own  outward  creative  activity,  imitates  in  a 
measure  the  building-up  and  development  of  the  uni- 
verse, in  that  he,  starting  from  simple,  solid  bodies,  per- 


270          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

ceives  the  material  in  its  most  elementary  division  and 
articulation ;  if  the  awakening  mind  of  the  child  recog- 
nizes in  the  concrete  world  the  consecutiveness  in  mate- 
rial development,  and  is  led  from  the  material  body  and 
its  regular  division  to  the  contemplation  of  the  surface, 
from  this  to  the  contemplation  of  the  line  and  to  the 
point  made  visible ;  if  he  learns  to  see  the  connection 
of  all  things,  and  nothing  comes  broken  and  isolated 
before  his  senses;  if  things,  from  the  simplest  up  to  the 
most  complex,  appear  to  him  fixedly  arranged  in  their 
natural,  logical  succession,  from  unity  up  to  manifold- 
ness  or  plurality,  and  his  own  handling  of  material  leads 
to  plastic  formation,  starting  from  -simple  fundamental 
forms  and  rising  to  ever  high  linking  together  of  the 
same  ;  and  if  his  own  formations  are  shaped  according 
to  one  and  the  same  law,  —  this  child's  mind  must,  in 
later  stages  of  development,  arrive  at  the  consciousness 
of  the  organic  life  imitated  by  his  own  hand,  and  will 
find  it  again  in  nature  in  its  most  original  state  of  exist- 
ence. And  thus  he  recognizes  the  agreement  between 
the  intellectually  organic  linking  of  his  own  being  with 
that  in  the  material  world. 

"  The  different  ways  in  which  nature  and  mind  express 
themselves,  as  visible  formation  in  nature  and  invisible 
formation  in  mind  (by  speech),  cannot  disturb  the  per- 
ception of  their  analogy,  and  as  little  the  less  or  higher 
degree  of  their  position  in  the  visible  creation ;  and  then 
there  can  be  no  more  division  and  contradiction  between 
the  material  and  spiritual  order  of  the  universe,  which 
are  never  and  nowhere  separated  from  each  other,  but 
only  superposed  and  subordinated  to  each  other." 

We  broke  up,  discussing  and  disputing  on  our  way 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          271 

home,  but  united  in  the  enjoyment  of  a  beautiful  moon- 
light evening  in  that  glorious  country. 

After  all  the  guests  had  departed,  Froebel  showed  the 
effects  of  the  exertion  which  the  Convention,  together 
with  the  work  and  fatigue  consequent  upon  it,  had  cost 
him.  Yet  he  was  stimulated  and  made  very  happy  by 
the  concurrence  of  so  many  intelligent  and  sensible  men 
and  specialists,  which  was  very  plainly  seen  in  the  follow- 
ing weeks  that  I  spent  in  Liebenstein ;  and  it  occurred 
to  no  one  that  this  energy  and  strength  of  life  were  to  fail 
so  soon. 

Froebel's  earnest  wish  that  MiddendorfF  should  remove 
from  Keilhau  to  Marienthal,  in  order  to  devote  himself 
entirely  to  the  education  of  the  kindergartners,  was  the 
more  lively  on  account  of  the  task  he  had  undertaken  : 
to  prepare  for  publication  a  new  statement  of  his  system 
in  all  its  relations.  He  thought  he  could  not  undertake 
it  without  Middendorff  s  help. 

A  correspondence  on  this  subject  with  the  Keilhau 
circle  did  not,  unfortunately,  lead  to  the  desired  result. 
They  could  not  spare  Middendorff  from  Keilhau.  They 
thought  if  he  left  the  institution,  which  was  flourishing 
anew  under  the  wise  and  watchful  guidance  of  Barop,  it 
would  be  in  a  high  degree  injurious.  Therefore  Froebel 
had  again  to  practise  resignation.  And  it  seemed  as  if 
his  state  of  feeling,  after  the  examination  and  recognition 
of  his  efforts  by  the  convention  that  had  just  taken  place, 
was  one  of  such  new-found  repose  and  inward  satisfac- 
tion that  the  downfall  of  his  hopes  in  this  one  case  could 
not  prostrate  him,  as  it  might  have  done  earlier. 


272          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

The  words  Froebel  uttered  to  him  on  parting,  given 
in  Middendorff's  little  pamphlet,  "  Froebel's  Exit  from 
Life,"  which  are  also  quoted  in  Hanschmann's  biography, 
are  so  significant  of  the  state  of  his  mind  that  they  are 
worth  repeating :  "  I  recognize  the  unity  of  my  life 
throughout.  Such  a  one  has  not  been  known  for  a 
long  time.  It  has  been  able  to  work  itself  out  only  by 
rare  circumstances.  But  it  is  one  condition  of  fulfilling 
the  demand  of  our  time.  If  you  go  away  now,  stand 
there,  as  I  stand  here,  in  the  same  inward  unity." 

Many  expressions  of  this  kind  showed  that  he  was 
approaching  the  close  of  a  life  which  he  looked  upon 
with  repose  and  satisfaction,  and  recognized  as  an  undi- 
vided whole.  And  it  had  been  a  truly  consistent  life ; 
for  a  leading  idea  had  determined  its  goal,  and  all  its 
action,  thinking,  and  striving,  without  any  hesitation  or 
any  doubting. 

Froebel  and  Middendorff  accompanied  me  as  far  as 
the  next  post-station.  We  made  a  short  stay  in  the  shade 
of  the  wood,  in  order  to  rest ;  for  Froebel  seemed  to  be 
somewhat  exhausted,  which  was  not  in  keeping  with  his 
usual  rare  vigor  in  walking. 

In  our  conversation,  the  "  Declaration  "  of  the  lately 
assembled  pedagogues  was  considered,  and  I  expressed 
my  opinion  that  that  which  was  new,  or  the  new  beginning 
which  Froebel's  method  brings  with  it,  was  not  made  suf- 
ficiently prominent. 

Froebel  said  to  this  :  "  Let  well  enough  alone.  What 
we  have  already  reached  is  much,  as  things  stand.  The 
outward  and  what  strikes  the  eye  is  the  only  thing  ac- 
cepted at  first,  but  a  path  is  made  for  a  deeper  under- 
standing afterward.  I  once  did  as  you  do.  I  thought 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  273 

every  one  must  have  an  insight  into  my  fundamental 
idea,  —  must  understand  it  and  concur  with  it.  That 
brought  me  many  disappointments.  Now  I  know  that 
it  will  be  centuries  before  my  view  of  the  human  being 
as  a  child,  and  its  educational  treatment,  can  be  gener- 
ally accepted.  But  that  no  longer  troubles  me.  If  the 
seed  is  sown,  its  coming  up  is  not  far  off,  and  it  is  the 
same  with  the  fruit." 

"  I  hope,"  I  replied,  "  that  I  shall  be  able  to  carry  out 
the  plan  of  a  General  Educational  Union,  such  as  we 
have  spoken  of.  Then  there  will  be  a  hope  of  gaining 
over  some  minds  of  intellectual  power  sufficient  to 
understand  and  prepare  the  deeper  contents  of  your 
method.  I  would  like  above  all  things  to  have  a  short 
rksum'e  of  your  fundamental  thoughts,  to  facilitate  my 
own  study  of  your  writings.  Will  you,  on  the  first  op- 
portunity, prepare  such  an  one  for  me  ? " 

"  Why  can  I  not  write  everything,  —  long  and  short, 
theoretical  and  practical !  "  he  answered.  "  But  I  will 
think  about  it,  in  order  to  meet  your  wish,  when  I  have 
had  a  little  rest." 

In  the  following  November,  Froebel  sent  me  a  short 
statement  of  his  theories,  of  about  forty  pages,  in  one 
of  his  letters  to  Berlin.  This  short  and  pregnant  state- 
ment is,  in  spite  of  its  quite  abstract  subject,  written  with 
great  clearness,  and  was  the  only  one  of  the  kind  in  ex- 
istence. For  this  reason  it  was  preserved  by  me  as  a 
holy  relic.  I  always  carried  it  about  with  me  in  a  letter- 
case,  in  order  to  preserve  it  from  destruction,  by  fire  or 
otherwise,  during  my  absence.  And  this  very  care  led 
to  its  loss  !  I  left  the  letter-case  in  a  hotel  in  Naples,  in 
a  locked  travelling-bag,  while  I  took  a  short  trip  to  Sor- 


274  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

rento.  This  bag  was  stolen.  Every  search  for  it  was  in 
vain.  But  the  contents  of  the  paper  were  saved  in  two 
copies  of  it  which  I  had  taken.  One  of  these  is  still  in 
my  possession ;  the  other  my  friend,  Dr.  Karl  Schmidt, 
took  when  I  initiated  him  into  the  doctrines  of  Froebel. 
He  shared  my  opinion  that  the  time  had  not  come  for  its 
publication,  because  the  want  of  a  thorough  explanation 
of  its  short  propositions  would  only  lead  to  misunder- 
standings. Froebel  himself,  in  the  accompanying  letter, 
had  also  given  a  special  direction  in  reference  to  this. 

This  second  copy  was  found  among  Schmidt's  effects, 
after  his  death,  in  a  large  portfolio,  with  a  great  quantity 
of  material  for  the  contemplated  popular  edition  of  a 
manual  of  the  Froebelian  method,  which  I  had  given  to 
Schmidt,  and  was  to  be  furnished  with  some  additions 
by  himself.  This  portfolio,  according  to  an  assurance 
of  Schmidt's  widow,  who  had  concealed  it,  was  put  out 
of  the  way,  and  has  never  been  found  again. 

The  contents  of  the  "  Froebelian  letter,"  as  we  were 
accustomed  to  call  it  in  our  little  circle,  were  im- 
parted by  me  to  some  of  my  pupils,  particularly  to  Frau 
Schrader  (formerly  Fraulein  Breymann),  with  whom  I 
have  often  perused  and  discussed  it.  The  authenticity 
of  the  copy  is  therefore  demonstrable. 

After  I  had  had  a  residence  prepared  in  the  upper 
story  of  the  Liebenstein  kindergarten  building,  in  order 
to  occupy  it  the  next  summer,  in  the  hope  of  being  able 
to  watch  the  little  pupils  of  the  institution  better  than 
I  could  do  before,  I  bade  farewell  to  Froebel  and  his 
household,  to  take  up  the  work  in  Berlin  for  the  winter. 

The  picture  of  idyllic  rural  and  domestic  repose  which 
Marienthal  afforded  at  that  time,  and  the  protection  and 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          275 

care  in  which  I  left  Froebel,  in  view  of  the  watchfulness 
and  fidelity  of  his  wife,  made  the  parting  easy,  and  free 
from  any  presentiments  that  it  would  be  for  the  last 
time. 

The  letters  also  which  I  received  in  the  course  of  the 
ensuing  winter  from  himself  and  his  wife  breathed  only 
content,  and  spoke  of  well-being,  with  the  exception  of  a 
few  trifling  ill  turns.  We  were  in  continuous  intercourse 
upon  our  mutual  work  for  the  cause  ;  and  Froebel  was 
always  greatly  pleased  with  the  smallest  success  gained 
in  Berlin,  and  constantly  expressed  the  most  touching 
gratitude  for  it.  This  success  consisted  at  that  time 
only  in  the  sympathy  I  won  for  the  method  by  my  regu- 
lar lectures,  in  consequence  of  which  the  number  of  'our 
members  increased,  and  in  the  undisturbed  progress  of 
the  kindergarten  established  by  our  Union, , which  was 
more  and  more  visited,  and  more  and  more  won  the 
recognition  of  the  parents  of  the  pupils. 

Thus  ended  the  year  1851,  the  last  throughout  which 
Froebel  lived. 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

THE  YEAR  1852. 

IN  the  beginning  of  this  year  Middendorff  wrote  me 
that  he  thought  the  birthday  of  Froebel  ought  to  be 
specially  celebrated,  since  the  latter  had  always  regarded 
the  entrance  upon  his.  seventieth  year  as  the  most  impor- 
tant period  of  human  life,  the  time  for  the  complete  sur- 
vey of  one's  own  as  well  as  of  human  life  in  general. 


276          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

Middendorff  thought  the  scholarship  fund  I  had  under- 
taken to  raise  for  the  assistance  of  needy  young  women 
who  wished  to  cultivate  themselves  at  Marienthal  for  kin- 
dergartners  would  make  the  most  fitting  birthday  present 
to  him.  At  the  same  time  he  asked  me  if  I  could  pos- 
sibly come  to  Liebenstein  on  the  day,  which  would  be  the 
2ist  of  April. 

If  anything  in  my  activity  for  the  cause  ever  gave  me 
trouble  it  was  this  collection  !  Since  the  issue  of  the 
fatal  prohibition,  the  majority  of  those  who  had  taken  an 
interest  in  the  cause  had  fallen  away  from  it.  How  could 
that  be  called  good  which  had  the  official  ban  ?  Even 
those  who  had  actually  promised  aid  and  immediate  as- 
sistance to  the  cause  had  withdrawn,  especially  some 
influential  officials  who  no  longer  dared  to  show  their 
interest  under  existing  conditions.  I  was  often  made  to 
feel  that  people  intentionally  kept  out  of  my  way  that 
they  might  not  hear  anything  said  of  the  forbidden  cause, 
or  they  only  uttered  evasive  phrases  if  they  were  reminded 
of  their  former  promised  support  In  all  this  it  was 
plainly  to  be  perceived  that  no  one  could  see  any  ade- 
quate motive  for  the  measure  that  had  been  taken,  and 
were  therefore  doubly  embarrassed. 

Nor  were  there  wanting  apparently  just  complaints  of 
the  method  as  it  appeared  externally  at  that  time.  More 
than  ever  were  heard  the  most  senseless  objections  which 
were  sought  after  without  the  least  knowledge  of  the  sub- 
ject, in  order  to  cover  up  the  mistake  the  authorities  had 
made,  whether  consciously  or  unconsciously. 

Under  such  circumstances,  success  in  begging  for  ma- 
terial support  was  not  to  be  thought  of  for  a  cause  whose 
aims  were  ideal,  or  whose  fruits  were  only  to  ripen  in  the 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.  277 

distant  future.     So  the  contributions  of  those  who  aided 
my  small  fund  were  only  sufficient  to  educate  one  scholar. 

Moreover,  my  intention  to  go  to  Liebenstein  on  the 
occasion  of  the  birthday  festival,  and  carry  a  little  work 
as  a  present,  was  frustrated  by  serious  illness,  and  I  was 
scarcely  able  to  accompany  my  offering  with  a  few  lines. 

I  received  from  Middendorff  a  full  description  of  the 
festival,  which  he  afterwards  published  for  the  friends, 
together  with  his  account  of  "  Froebel's  Departure  from 
Life." 

It  was  destined  to  be  Froebel's  last  birthday;  a  few 
months  later  his  soul  celebrated  its  birth  into  another 
world !  The  last  days  of  this  long  life  of  trouble  and 
labor  flowed  on  serenely  and  beautifully,  and  his  letters 
were  full  of  thanks  for  all  the  proofs  of  love  which  he 
had  received.  He  wrote,  "  It  was  indeed  very  beautiful; 
you  ought  to  have  been  here  ! " 

MiddendorfFs  description  of  the  festival  is  deeply  touch- 
ing, and  gives  one  a  glimpse  of  a  human  existence  which, 
wholly  unselfish,  belonged  to  humanity  alone,  and  whose 
influence  was  so  powerful  that  even  the  simplest  souls  in 
the  group  of  his  pupils  were  elevated  and  made  capable 
of  true  devotion  by  it. 

The  idea  of  the  festival  originated  with  Middendorff, 
but  everything  was  arranged  with  the  pupils  and  with 
Madame  Froebel,  and  their  plans  were  respected,  and 
guided  Middendorff  even  in  his  poems  for  the  festival. 
The  whole  breathed  the  childlike,  poetic  spirit  of 
Middendorff,  and  of  the  fresh  young  circle  that 
surrounded  Froebel. 

Middendorff  said  the  festal  song  of  the  scholars  at  sun- 
rise waked  Froebel,  who  then  with  profound  emotion  spoke 


278  REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL. 

to  them,  recognized  the  day,  and  thanked  them.  As  he 
stepped  out  of  his  chamber  into  the  lecture-room,  he  stood 
still  on  the  threshold,  taken  by  surprise,  admiring,  with 
his  eyes  beaming  with  joy,  the  beautiful  decoration  of 
the  room,  which  was  adorned  with  flowers  in  flower-pots, 
festoons,  and  wreaths,  and  the  table  richly  covered  with 
presents  of  all  kinds.  Again  the  song  burst  out  from  the 
semicircle  of  scholars  dressed  in  white  holiday  garments, 
ornamented  with  green  wreaths,  which  expressed  the  mean- 
ing of  the  ornamentation,  and  pointed  to  the  blessing 
which  would  go  forth  to  the  world  of  childhood  out  of 
Froebers  work.  Then  Madame  Froebel  handed  out  her 
birthday  present,  and  the  scholars  followed  with  an  orange- 
tree  bearing  flowers  and  fruit,  which  Froebel  had  often 
pointed  out  to  them  as  a  symbol  of  the  united  ages  of 
man  in  leaves,  buds,  flowers,  and  fruit  borne  at  the  same 
time,  representing  childhood,  youth,  manhood,  and  old  age. 

Then  the  many  gifts  which  lay  spread  out  upon  the 
table,  and  which  were  sent  by  pupils  and  friends  from 
various  parts  of  the  world,  were  brought  forward  and 
examined.  The  most  striking  of  these  were  a  copper- 
plate engraving  of  Raphael's  Madonna  with  the  child 
John,  a  Bible  with  illustrations  by  the  best  artists  from 
the  Cottaschen  'Offizin,  —  both  accompanied  with  a  beau- 
tiful poem,  —  also  a  likeness  of  Pestalozzi  and  a  work 
upon  the  "  Mythology  of  the  North."  There  were  also 
the  works  of  children  in  kindergartens  as  well  as  those 
of  teachers,  and  many  from  the  scholars  at  Keilhau,  all 
accompanied  with  cordial  words  of  love  and  honor,  in 
poetry  and  prose. 

From  near  and  far  came  tokens  of  harmonious  efforts 
to  honor  and  make  happy  not  only  the  gray  old  man  but 
all  around  him. 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          279 

In  the  afternoon  the  children  came  from  the  kinder- 
gartens of  Salzung  and  Liebenstein,  and  accompanied 
the  offering  of  the  little  gifts  they  had  prepared  .with  a 
song,  whose  childlike,  expressive  words,  sung  by  the  clear 
little  voices,  deeply  moved  Froebel.  He  laid  this  song, 
with  some  of  the  other  poems,  into  a  letter  which  he  sent 
me  after  the  festival.*  Then  followed  the  children's  plays, 
which  made  Froebel  as  happy  as  they  did  the  children. 

He  wrote  further :  "  After  the  children  were  on  their 
way  home,  at  sunset,  came  the  postman  with  a  load  of 
letters.  Blessings  and  festal  gifts  continue  to  this  day  to 
come  from  all  the  countries  round,  —  from  the  north,  from 
the  south,  from  the  Lower  Rhine,  from  the  Baltic,  from 
great  places  and  from  small  places."  And  heartfelt, 
touching  words  were  those  with  which  Middendorff  ac- 
companied extracts  from  the  letters,  which  testified  to 
the  powerful  and  lasting  influence  of  Froebel's  teaching 
upon  receptive  minds.  They  had  all  received  a  lifelong 
impression,  a  direction  to  higher  aims  than  the  selfish 
enjoyment  of  existence,  —  a  power  for  self-sacrificing 
action  in  behalf  of  the  ripening  of  childhood,  and  a 
consciousness  of  their  womanly  dignity  through  duty 
fulfilled  in  their  chosen  calling. 

In  the  evening  the  teachers  of  the  neighborhood  as- 
sembled with  Pastor  Riickert  and  his  household  around 
Froebel ;  the  pupils  acted  a  dramatic  farce,  and  then,  by 
the  wish  of  all,  returned  to  the  representation  of  the 
kindergarten  games,  conducted  chiefly  by  Froebel  or  his 
wife.  Before  the  parting,  a  closing  song  (see  foot-note) 

*  It  was  inscribed  to  "  Friedrich  Froebel,  the  founder  of  the  German  kin- 
dergartens, April  21,  1852,  offered  with  sincere  gratitude  by  the  kindergarten 
in  Salzung." 


280          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

was  sung,  and  a  green  wreath  placed  upon  Froebel's 
head  by  one  of  his  pupils.  In  a  happy  and  exalted  mood 
they  then  separated. 

Middendorff  adds  to  his  highly  poetical  account,  from 
which  only  a  few  facts  have  been  taken,  the  following 
words  :  "  So  the  day  ended  as  it  began,  in  beautiful 
unity,  with  thanksgiving,  love,  and  joy.  Those  who  at- 
tended the  festival  will  never  lose  the  remembrance  of  it. 
For  not  only  in  form,  but  in  reality,  he  has  seen,  felt, 
and  sympathized  with  an  all-sided,  consistent  life.  He 
has  known  by  experience  that  the  expression,  '  All-sided 
unity  of  life,'  by  which  name  we  have  designated  the 
training-school  at  Marienthal,  is  no  empty  sound,"  etc. 

Middendorff's  little  account  of  Froebel's  last  birthday 
and  end  deserves  to  be  preserved  in  a  larger  edition  for 
the  circle  of  followers,  since  it  gives  such  a  true  and 
warmly  colored  picture  of  the  life,  work,  and  death  of 
Froebel  as  that  of  one  of  the  "just." 

Middendorff  writes  later  that,  after  this  festival,  Froe- 
bel's life  was  happier  and  more  tranquil  than  ever  before, 
and  that  he  enjoyed  his  existence  like  a  child  ;  afterwards 
that  he  was  disturbed  by  various  communications  in  the 
daily  papers,  in  which  the  contending  religious  parties 
represented  Froebel  as  their  intellectual  sympathizer, 
although  he  had  never  inclined  either  toward  the  Christian 
pietists  of  that  period,  with  their  hypocrisy  and  transcen- 
dentalism, or  to  the  transitory  superficial  radicalism  sup- 
ported by  the  free  societies.  His  own  understanding  of 
religion  and  of  Christianity  was  a  far  clearer  and  deeper 
one  than  these  extreme  opinions  of  a  time  of  transition 
to  new  and  higher  views. 

On  account  of  his  cause,  and  not  for  personal  justifi- 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.         281 

cation,  Froebel  felt  in  duty  bound  not  to  leave  these  false 
assertions  uncontradicted.  The  bodily  weakness  which 
had  come  upon  him  was  increased  by  the  composition 
of  an  article  written  for  this  purpose.  He  could  no 
longer,  as  formerly,  collect  and  write  out  his  thoughts 
tranquilly. 

When  he  sent  me  the  little  essay  for  my  criticism,  and 
for  the  management  of  its  publication  in  Berlin,  I  felt 
bound  to  beg  him  to  abstain  from  publishing  it.  The 
article  contained  no  new  points  upon  his  religious  views ; 
it  was,  rather,  the  same  statement  that  he  had  made  in  his 
former  writings  in  a  far  clearer  and  more  objective  man- 
ner. Both  contending  parties  —  still  contending  down 
to  the  present  time  —  would  have  found  opportunity 
again  to  express  their  views,  although  Froebel  bound 
himself  to  none  of  them,  while  acknowledging  what  was 
the  right  of  each  one. 

Painful  as  it  was  to  oppose  Froebel's  justification  of 
himself,  yet  Middendorff  and  Diesterweg  agreed  with  me 
that  it  was  better  to  prevent  the  publication  of  the  article 
in  question.  Froebel  himself  seemed  to  see  this,  and 
requested  me  to  send  back  the  manuscript. 

It  is  surely,  in  most  cases,  not  advantageous  /or  great 
minds  and  thinking  men  to  publish  every  scrap  of  their 
writings  and  every  unimportant  letter.  Their  biogra- 
phers should  study  thoroughly  everything  they  can  find 
access  to,  and  select  all  that  appears  necessary,  but  not 
those  indifferent  letters  which  show  the  heroes  of  mind 
in  their  nightgowns,  and  tear  away  every  veil  before  pro- 
fane and  unappreciative  eyes.  To  the  public  belong 
only  the  ideal  forms  of  those  who  have  accomplished 
something,  not  the  every-day  garment  which  every  one 
wears  who  is  called  a  man. 


282          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

No  one  could  look  more  piously  upon  the  bearers  of 
divine  ideas  than  Froebel,  to  whom  such  an  idea  was 
intrusted  ;  no  one  could  recognize  the  great  and  eternal 
significance  of  the  Christian  idea  with  more  complete  con- 
viction, or  love  its  sublime  messengers  with  more  rever- 
ence than  he. 

Jesus  was  to  him  the  eternal  type  of  man,  the  model 
for  the  humanity  of  the  future,  and  the  Messiah  of  the 
fundamental  truth,  "  God  in  humanity." 

Whatever  other  fundamental  truths  God  might  send 
into  the  world,  no  one  will  ever  obliterate  those  con- 
tained in  Christianity ;  but  these  must  be  freed  and  puri- 
fied of  the  mere  overgrowths  and  dross  added  to  them  by 
the  erring  human  mind.  For  all  truth  is  eternal  in  itself, 
and  can  only  find  confirmation  and  completion  by  new 
truths  ;  the  human  eye  cannot  see  absolute  truth,  it  can 
only  approach  it.  And  even  those  inspired  by  God  can 
clothe  it  only  in  an  earthly  garment. 

Froebel  used  to  say,  when  he  expressed  his  views  of 
Christianity  :  "  The  fundamental  idea  of  Christianity,  that 
we  are  God's  children  (or  that  God  lives  in  humanity), 
expressed  in  the  New  Testament  by  the  words,  '  You  are 
of  Divine  lineage,'  explains  the  relation  of  man  to  God 
exhaustively  for  all  times." 

Those  views  of  modern  times  which  regard  the  histori- 
cal view  of  Christianity  as  a  myth  poetized  by  the  popular 
mind,  as  it  advances  with  every  new  turning-point  in  the 
world's  history,  in  order  to  designate  the  consciousness 
of  the  period  in  the  instinct  of  the  people,  —  those  views 
could  not  interfere  with  his  own  convictions,  but  he  also 
saw  in  them  a  self-contradiction.  On  the  contrary,  this 
conception  of  the  eternal  fundamental  idea  of  the  Chris- 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  283 

tian  theory  can  serve  only  as  a  confirmation  and  attesta- 
tion of  it,  since  every  great  and  general  truth  only  im- 
presses itself  on  the  popular  mind  so  far  as  it  clothes 
itself  in  a  poetical  form  understood  by  it.  This  form 
grows  indeed  with  the  idea  and  makes  it  difficult  to  sep- 
arate the  pure  thought  from  the  letter ;  indeed,  it  may  in 
time  lead  to  the  most  absurd  conclusions. 

Yet  this  legend,  poetized  by  the  popular  mind,  is  in  so 
far  the  confirmation  of  the  truth  of  a  fundamental  idea, 
because  thereby  is  expressed  the  agreement  of  the  child- 
ishly undeveloped  conception  of  the  idea  of  a  given  period 
with  that  of  the  conscious  human  mind  standing  upon  the 
summit  of  the  consciousness  of  the  time. 

Then,  no  truth  can  be  received  until  the  mind  of  the 
people  to  whom  it  is  proclaimed  has  become  ripe  for  it. 
This  ripeness  appears  in  different  degrees  of  knowledge, 
from  instinct  or  intuition  in  the  popular  mind,  up  through 
the  clear  self-consciousness  of  the  cultivated  mind,  to  the 
divine  consciousness  of  the  one  mind  which  has  been 
chosen  by  God  to  proclaim  the  truth  in  question.  Just 
as  little  can  the  modern  view  of  nature  in  any  way 
prejudice  the  fundamental  idea  in  Christianity.  Froebel 
also  acknowledged  that  it  was  a  problem  of  the  time  to 
look  upon  the  relation  of  man  to  nature  and  the  organ- 
isms below  him  in  a  new  light,  and  give  it  due  place. 
The  partial  views  and  erroneous  conclusions  coming  to 
the  surface  in  such  an  investigation  are  temporary,  and 
will  be  corrected  later.  True  knowledge  always  rectifies 
itself  in  the  course  of  its  further  development. 

But  whatever  new  thing  may  result  from  the  increasing 
knowledge  of  the  human  mind,  whatever  apparent  con- 
tradictions may  come  to  the  surface  with  the  truths  recog- 


284          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

nized  by  it,  the  objects  of  the  truth  to  be  recognized  remain 
always  the  same,  namely,  God  (or  the  Cause  of  whatever 
is) ;  the  universe  here  (or  what  man  has  found  and  which 
has  not  arisen  out  of  hinjself ) ;  man  (as  a  link  in  growing 
humanity).  Outside  of  these  we  know  nothing,  and  no 
human  knowledge  can  go. 

But  these  three  subjects  can  be  apprehended  only 
through  their  mutual  relations,  namely, 

1.  The  relation  of  the  material  world  (as  the  first  thing 
perceivable)  to  God,    and  of  God   to   the  world,  with 
which  the  earlier  pantheism  busied  itself,  and  also  mono- 
theism in  its  first  phase  (the  Mosaic  history  of  Creation). 

2.  The  relation  of  man  to  God  and  of  God  to  humanity, 
which  is  the  chief  subject-matter  of  Christianity  and  its 
result, — the  establishment  of  God's  kingdom  upon  earth. 

3.  The  relation  of  man  to  the  world,  or  nature,  and  of 
this  to  man,  —  which  constitutes  the  chief  object  of  knowl- 
edge for  the  present. 

Froebel's  conviction  went  on  to  the  view  that  the 
knowledge  of  one  of  these  relations  between  the  objects 
named  cannot  possibly  annul  or  even  alter  the  others, 
and  it  is  necessary  for  the  education  of  the  human  race, 
under  God's  guidance,  to  understand  that  these  relations 
must  be  seen  one  after  the  otherty  the  human  mind,  which 
is  not  capable  of  seizing  the  whole  truth  at  once. 

By  this  conviction  the  opinion  and  the  belief  are  not 
excluded  that  God  sends  his  truth  into  the  world  by  minds 
especially  chosen  for  that  purpose,  or  that  the  revelation 
of  truth  comes  at  certain  turning-points  of  their  develop- 
ment immediately  through  inspiration.  But  that  truth 
which  has  been  already  given  must  be  first  made  their 
own  through  the  labor  of  the  human  mind,  science,  in 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          285 

order  to  gain  a  real  recognition  of  the  idea  containing 
the  truth.  But  the  recognition  of  each  of  the  three  con- 
ditions named  forms  the  synthesis  between  two  of  the 
three  objects  designated. 

According  to  this  view  no  truth,  or  fundamental  idea, 
which  always  comes  from  God  himself,  can  ever  be  really 
lost,  even  if  it  is  covered  up  for  a  long  time.  The  final 
result  of  the  new  truth  will  always  confirm  that  which 
went  before  and  show  it  in  a  better  light. 

The  faithful  votaries  of  Christianity  have,  according  to 
this  view,  nothing  to  fear  for  the  subject-matter  of  their 
belief,  so  far  as  its  spirituality  is  concerned,  either  from 
the  modern  theory  of  nature,  or  from  the  historical  view, 
which  shall  have  separated  legends  from  ideas.  All  in- 
vestigations by  the  human  mind  can  only  serve  to  uncover 
the  truth;  and  the  contradictions  and  errors  inevitably 
bound  up  with  it,  even  if  they  are  advocated  by  several 
generations,  have  their  compensation,  and  must  help  the 
fight  of  Divine  truth  to  shine  forth  more  and  more  clearly. 
And  this  comes  to  pass  when  the  kernel  of  truth  is  freed 
from  the  envelope  in  which  it  must  always  come  into  the 
world  for  the  weak  eyes  of  man.  Froebel  was  of  the 
opinion  that  the  recognition  of  truth  in  the  present  phase 
of  development  is  not  to  arise  from  self-contemplation, 
from  which  the  great  majority  of  philosophical  systems 
hitherto  have  arisen,  and  by  which  no  firm  foundation 
can  be  gained,  since  they  rest  on  subjective  theories. 
This  firm  foundation  can  only  be  gained  from  the  immu- 
table principle  of  law  in  nature,  since  this  alone  is  objec- 
tive to  us.  Only  in  the  life  of  unconsciousness,  or  instinct, 
which  is  yet  fettered  by  necessity,  can  firm  ground  be 
found,  from  which,  rising  to  the  consciousness  of  the  hu- 


286  REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL. 

man  mind,  its  self-contemplation  finds  a  secure,  firm  basis; 
not  indeed  to  identify  spirit  and  matter  and  to  place  on 
the  same  level  the  spiritual  and  natural  life,  or  to  let  the 
spiritual  life  arise  out  of  matter,  according  to  the  present 
materialistic  theories,  but  to  find  a  point  of 'union  for  both 
domains,  which  must  of  course  be  discoverable  in  the  creation 
of  one  and  the  same  Creator. 

Froebel  finds  this  point  of  union  in  the  one  universal 
law  of  creation,  to  which  the  manifold  and  various  laws 
of  both  domains  —  that  of  mind  (God)  and  that  of  na- 
ture (matter)  —  are  to  be  referred,  and  indeed  in  the 
C  analogy  between  the  two.  This  law  he  calls  the  law  of 
ythe  "  connection  of  opposites,"  which  is  expressed  in  the 
material  world  in  the  law  of  gravitation,  and  which  also 
finds  its  application  in  the  spiritual  world  in  the  com- 
pensation of  ever-recurring  opposites,  —  in  the  restora- 
tion of  equilibrium.  The  everywhere  perceptible  analogy 
between  the  thought  and  its  material  appearance  logically 
demands  the  identity  of  law  in  both  domains  as  held  by 
Froebel. 

While  speculative  philosophy  moves  in  the  domain  of 
abstraction  and  the  absolute,  educational  philosophy,  since 
it  has  to  do  with  the  whole  man,  must  consider  the  real 
and  ideal,  the  concrete  and  the  abstract,  the  relative  and 
the  absolute  in  connection,  for  these  opposites  always 
in  fact  appear  united  in  the  world  of  phenomena. 

Froebel's  educational,  system  concurs  with  this  view  of 
the  actual  idea  of  the  time,  and  with  the  inquiries  growing 
out  of  it,  which  aim  at  finding  the  unity  between  the  in- 
tellectual and  physical  world,  or  between  mind  and  mat- 
ter, the  real  and  ideal,  etc.,  and  thereby  get  rid  of  the  in- 
flexible and  one-sided  dualism.  Education  cannot  and 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  287 

should  not  be  dualistic,  since  it  has  to  support  and  assist 
the  development  of  body  and  mind  equally,  and  to  look 
upon  their  harmonious  culture  as  its  goal. 

Even  if  the  two  fields  of  activity  —  philosophical 
knowledge  and  educational  action  —  are  entirely  sepa- 
rate, yet  children  must  first  read  the  book  which  God 
himself  has  given  humanity  to  read  in  its  childhood, 
namely,  the  world  which  he  has  created,  and  in  which 
he  has  manifested  his  divine  thoughts. 

Froebel  would  awaken  and  strengthen  the  eyes  of 
children  that  they  may  learn  to  read  this  book  aright. 
Scientific  speculation  leads  to  error,  if  this  foundation  is 
wanting.  If  its  task  has  heretofore  been  to  separate 
the  spirit  of  things  from  their  hull,  and  thereby  to  make 
them  understood,  the  problem  yet  remains  of  again  unit- 
ing the  spiritual  contents  with  their  phenomenal  form, 
from  which  they  have  been  separated,  that  is,  of  finding 
the  synthesis  between  these  opposites.  For  the  solution 
of  this  problem  Froebel's  educational  underpinning  is 
an  absolute  necessity.  His  method  will  prevent  men 
from  ever  again  seeking  the  impossible,  that  is  to  say, 
from  standing  the  pyramid  on  its  apex,  by  offering  ab- 
stract teaching  to  the  child's  mind,  and  to  youth  philo- 
sophical systems,  for  which  all  preliminary  conditions  are 
wanting. 

The  pupils  of  the  new  education  will  be  better  pre- 
pared than  the  young  have  ever  before  been  for  taking  a 
synthetic  view  of  things,  as  the  present  time  is  striving  to 
do. 

This  will  at  least  smooth  the  way  for  a  union  between 
the  natural  sciences  and  intellectual  science,  and  will  by 
degrees  bridge  over  the  abyss  yet  separating  the  human 


288          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

being  and  the  kingdom  of  the  spirit  from  the  rest  of 
God's  creations. 

The  sketch  here  given  of  Froebel's  views  finds  its 
completion  in  his  writings,  although  not  in  the  summary 
way  in  which  it  is  offered  here.  Although  these  writ- 
ings present  no  complete  system,  and  although  their  con- 
tents are  in  some  confusion,  and  are  difficult  to  under- 
stand on  account  of  their  very  heavy  style  of  expression, 
they  are  yet  a  mine  of  new  thoughts  full  of  genius,  which 
only  need  to  be  put  in  order  and  supplemented  by  an 
understanding  mind,  to  be  assigned  as  a  whole  to  their 
place  in  science. 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

LAST  DAYS   OF  FROEBEL. 

'TVDWARDS  the  end  of  the  winter,  occasional  letters 
_L  from  Froebel  and  his  wife  informed  me  of  slight  at- 
tacks of  illness  and  consequent  suspension  of  work.  In 
spite  of  this,  the  instruction  of  his  scholars  and  other 
busy  work  was  but  rarely  interrupted,  and  his  accus- 
tomed mental  vivacity  was  apparently  undiminished. 

At  Whitsuntide  of  that  year  he  received  for  the  first 
time  an  invitation  to  participate  in  the  Teachers'  Con- 
vention which  was  to  meet  in  Gotha.  He  wrote  me  very 
joyfully  upon  the  occasion,  and  took  it  as  a  proof  that 
his  cause  had  secured  increased  estimation  in  the  teach- 
ers' world. 

Middendorff  gave  an  account  of  the  Convention  as  he 
received  it  from  Froebel's  wife.  When  Froebel  entered 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          289 

the  Convention,  in  the  midst  of  a  discourse,  the  whole 
assembly  rose.  At  the  end  of  the  discourse  the  presi- 
dent of  the  meeting  gave  him  a  hearty  welcome,  followed 
by  three  cheers  from  the  whole  assembly.  Froebel 
thanked  them  in  a  few  simple  words,  and  immediately 
taking  up  the  subject  in  hand,  which  was  "  Instruction 
in  the  Natural  Sciences,"  was  listened  to  with  profound 
attention. 

After  the  Convention,  Froebel  was  made  specially 
happy  in  the  garden  of  a  friend  of  nature  in  Gotha, 
where  he  examined  almost  every  group  of  flowers,  and 
happily  and  gratefully  acknowledged  all  the  good  things 
that  were  offered  him. 

In  the  kindergarten  of  Gotha  he  explained  the  intel- 
lectual significance  of  some  of  his  occupation-materials. 
In  the  evening  he  took  part  in  a  reunion  of  the  friends 
of  his  cause,  although  he  was  somewhat  exhausted  by 
the  excitement  of  the  day ;  he  spoke  of  the  importance 
of  the  kindergarten  for  the  female  sex,  and  the  duty  of 
teachers  to  learn  to  understand  it  on  its  own  theory,  and 
prepare  for  its  introduction  into  the  schools. 

While  he  was  on  the  journey  to  Gotha  he  had  been 
rather  quiet  and  reserved,  but  on  the  way  home  he  ap- 
peared cheerful,  well,  and  communicative. 

On  the  6th  of  June  came  the  attack  of  his  last  illness, 
and  Froebel  thought  he  saw  in  it  a  crisis  that  would  end 
in  recovery.  During  his  last  illness  his  repose  and  cheer- 
fulness never  left  him  for  a  moment,  and  he  took  part  in 
and  enjoyed  everything,  particularly  when  flowers  were 
brought  him.  He  once  said  on  such  an  occasion,  "  I 
love  flowers,  men,  children,  God  !  I  love  everything !  " 

The  highest  peace,  the  most  cheerful  resignation,  were 


290          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

expressed,  not  only  in  his  words,  but  in  his  face.  The 
former  anxious  care  to  be  active  in  his  life-task  resolved 
itself  into  trust  in  Providence,  and  his  spirit  looked  joy- 
fully in  advance  for  the  fulfilment  of  his  life's  idea. 

On  the  Sunday  before  his  death,  a  favorite  child  came 
to  bring  him  flowers  ;  he  greeted  her  with  unbounded 
delight.  Although  it  was  difficult  for  him  to  lift  his 
hand,  he  reached  it  out  to  her,  and  drew  the  child's  little 
hand  to  his  lips. 

The  care  of  his  flowers  he  recommended  in  these 
words  :  "  Take  care  of  my  flowers  and  spare  my  weeds  ;  I 
have  learned  much  from  them."  And  in  his  very  last 
hours  he  asked  again  for  flowers.  The  window  must  be 
opened  frequently,  and  he  brightened  up  visibly  at  the 
aspect  of  nature,  and  often  repeated  the  words, "  pure, 
vigorous  nature  ";  and  at  another  time,  "  Always  hold  me 
dear,"  also,  "  I  am  not  going  away,  I  shall  hover  round 
in  the  midst  of  you."  He  spoke  much  about  truth  to 
Barop,  who  had  come  with  the  teacher  Clemens,  saying, 
among  other  things,  "  Remain  true  to  God." 

He  asked  them  to  read  his  godfather's  letter,  which  in 
Thuringia,  according  to  old  custom,  was  given  to  the 
baptized  child  by  the  godfather,  and  contained  the  con- 
fession of  Christian  faith.  In  some  places  he  exclaimed, 
"  My  credentials  !  my  credentials,  Barop  !  "  especially  at 
the  passage  in  the  confession  "  from  this  time  forth  our 
Saviour  will  confide  in  thee  in  justice,  grace,  and  mercy." 
For  the  third  time  he  cried  out  aloud,  "  My  creden- 
tials !  "  at  the  words,  "  Let  my  son  hear  !  look  upon  and 
hold  with  immovable  truth  to  thy  soul's  best  friend,  who 
is  now  thine."  It  was  as  if  he  would  say,  "  To  him  have 
I  been  consecrated  from  the  beginning  of  my  life,  and  I 
have  never  in  my  life  neglected  this  bond." 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          2QI 

One  could  see  how  earnestly  his  Christianity  dwelt 
within  him,  little  as  he  was  ordinarily  accustomed  to 
speak  of  it.  Thus  he  said  in  the  Teachers'  Convention 
at  Rudolstadt :  "  I  work  that  Christianity  may  become 
realized."  Another  time  he  said  :  "  Who  knows  Christ  ? 
But  I  know  him,  and  he  knows  me.  I  will  what  he  wills. 
But  we  must  hold  to  his  testament,  the  promise  of  the 
Spirit."  He  repeatedly  admonished  the  friends  around 
him  in  Keilhau  "  to  preserve  unity,  concord,  and  peace ; 
to  lead  a  model  life,  as  one  family,  in  a  united  striving. 
"  Have  trust  in  God  ;  be  true  to  life !  "  And  ever  and 
again  he  expressed  love  and  thanks  to  those  around 
him.  At  midnight  of  the  2ist  of  June  the  last  moment 
approached.  His  eyes,  which  had  been  closed  for  rest, 
were  partially  open.  He  was  in  a  sitting  posture,  as  if 
his  wish  to  find  his  last  rest  sitting  up  was  to  be  fulfilled. 
His  breathing  became  shorter  and  shorter,  till,  at  half 
past  six,  he  drew  two  long  breaths,  and  all  was  still. 

So  quietly,  without  a  struggle  and  without  a  death- 
throe,  ended  a  life  which  had  at  no  moment  served 
selfish  interests,  but  was  devoted  wholly  and  completely 
to  humanity,  and  to  childhood  in  humanity. 

Middendorff  added  to  his  communication  about  Froe- 
bel's  last  moments  :  "  It  involuntarily  drew  us  who  stood 
around  the  death-bed  to  our  knees.  We  felt  near  the 
consecrated  one.  Never  was  the  awe  of  death  so  effaced 
to  me.  I  had  felt  something  similar  to  it  at  the  death  of 
a  beloved  child.  Nature  made  her  last  struggling  efforts, 
and  then  stood  still  untroubled.  The  mind,  clear  to  the 
last,  fervent,  joyful,  and  loving,  went  home  like  a  child 
to  its  pure  source ;  a  life  well-ordered  in  all  directions, 
united  within  and  without,  was  fulfilled  and  closed. 


292          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

What  he  loved  so  much,  and  so  often  gazed  upon  on  a 
clear  evening,  —  the  going-down  of  the  sun,  —  he  him- 
self represented.  As  the  sun  sinks  to  our  eyes,  so  sinks 
to  our  eyes  the  light  of  his  being;  and  as,  at  sunset,*! 
have  no  thought  of  its  passing  away,  but  only  of  its 
receding  from  view,  and  thereby  know  the  certainty  of 
its  return,  so  I  felt  here  in  sorrow  the  certainty  of  the 
eternal  duration  of  life.  Yes,  true  is  the  promise,  — 
'Death  and  lamentation  shall  be  no  more.'  As  he 
often,  when  plunged  in  meditation,  penetrated  to  the 
light  of  a  new  thought,  so  his  mind,  freed  from  all  limi- 
tations and  absorbed  in  his  inmost  soul,  in  his  own  being 
and  life,  penetrated  to  a  new  existence,  —  to  the  light  of 
another  day. 

"  O,  what  stillness,  what  deep  stillness,  now !  Con- 
secration and  holiness  breathed  around  me.  I  felt  joy 
in  the  midst  of  my  pain !  He  who  stood  so  near  to 
nature,  and  not  only  saw,  contemplated,  and  investigated 
it,  but  who  was  sunk  in  it  as  a  child  in  purest  love  on  the 
breast  of  a  mother,  —  he  had  followed  its  teachings, 
trusted  implicitly  its  laws  and  holy  commands,  had  not 
been  deceived  in  his  hopes ;  and  how  it  had  rewarded 
his  love.  In  his  illness,  he  had  been  as  quiet  and  gentle 
as  a  lamb.  He  scarcely  allowed  an  expression  of  pain 
to  be  heard  ;  no  murmuring,  no  unwillingness,  was  per- 
ceived. True,  son  as  he  was  to  Nature,  so  was  she  his 
true  mother,  who  took  him  softly  and  lovingly  into  her 
arms. 

"  But  how  could  he  have  trusted  her  so  well,  if  he  had 
not  clearly  known  who  she  was,  —  if  he  had  not  known 
who  inspired  her  and  penetrated  her,  who  governed  her 
and  wrote  her  laws,  held  her  together  in  unity  and  self- 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  293 

consciousness,  and  kindled  intelligence  of  her  in  the 
human  mind  ?  How  could  he  have  been  so  serene,  if 
he  had  not  known  himself  to  be  a  son  of  that  Almighty 
One,  —  if  he  had  not  recognized  and  known  the  first  of 
men  who  lived  this  unity  of  the  Son  with  the  Father,  and 
had  not  felt  himself  one  with  him  in  all  his  striving? 
How  could  he  have  been  so  cheerful,  if  he  had  not  car- 
ried within  himself  the  knowledge  that  the  conscious- 
ness of  the  Sonship  of  this  only  One  would  break  forth 
by  degrees  in  all  sentient  beings,  and  thus  the  conscious 
unity  and  salvation  of  the  minds  for  which  he  lived  and 
struggled  would  surely  and  certainly  appear  ?  Therefore 
were  his  last  words  to  his  friends  the  prayer  with  which 
he  closed  his  work  upon  earth, —  'God,  Father,  Son,  and 
Holy  Ghost.  Amen.' 

"  My  soul  was  full  of  thanksgiving  for  the  favor  vouch- 
safed to  me  that  I  could  close  the  eyes  and  bestow  the 
last  cares  upon  him  to  whom  my  dying  father  had  com- 
mended me,  and  who  had  received  me  upon  his  breast. 
How  grateful  it  was  to  my  heart  that  it  was  my  duty  to 
be  so  near,  at  his  last  moment,  in  his  last  battle,  to  him 
whom  I  had  accompanied  so  long  in  life,  with  whom  I 
had  fought  the  battle,  with  whom  I  had,  for  a  time, 
worked  and  suffered  the  heaviest  trials !  Chiefly  was  I 
thankful  because  I  saw  this  life  end  as  it  had  begun,  — 
because  I  saw  that  he  was  what  I  had  heard  and  believed 
him  to  be,  and  that  he  remained  wholly  in  unison  with 
himself;  for  to  the  last  moment  was  revealed  this  repose 
springing  from  inward  concord,  —  this  clearness,  truth, 
and  unity.  As  he  himself  characterized  it,  'One  must 
himself  perfect  his  life  to  a  ripe  fruit.'  And  so  his  life 
dropped  as  a  ripe  fruit  from  the  tree  of  the  life  of  hu- 


294          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

% 

manity.  So  can  and  also  will  be  fulfilled  what  he  said  : 
'  The  age  of  ripeness  is  coming.'  And  again  :  '  The 
fragrant  flower  has  withered,  but  the  fruit  has  set  which 
will  now  ripen.  Behold  in  it  three  in  one,  —  the  connec- 
tion with  the  earlier  time,  the  steady  advance  in  the  pres- 
ent, and  the  seed  of  the  future.' " 

Of  the  burial-service  Middendorff  said  :  "  The  bier, 
adorned  with  garlands  of  flowers  and  a  laurel  crown 
made  by  the  wife  and  pupils,  stood  in  the  place  where 
lately  Froebel's  bed  had  stood.  All  gathered  round  to 
look  once  more  upon  the  beloved  friend,  and  to  gain  an 
ineffaceable  impression  of  the  dear  features.  No  trace 
of  pain  was  to  be  found  upon  the  countenance ;  a  holy 
earnestness  and  inward  cheerfulness  shone  forth  from  it. 
It  was  a  look  of  introspection  united  with  a  light,  blissful 
smile.  The  countenance  showed  an  extraordinary  ten- 
derness. The  lips  were  slightly  open,  as  if  his  mouth 
would  pronounce  the  secret  of  the  other  world,  —  as  if  it 
said,  '  I  see  in  light  what  I  have  here  seen  darkly.  Be- 
lieve, follow  the  truth  ;  it  leads  to  freedom,  to  bliss.' 
There  is  something  striking  in  standing  before  such  a 
countenance ;  the  soul  becomes  a  prayer.  We  sank 
upon  our  knees.  '  O  might  we  all  die  like  him,  and 
rest  in  the  grave  with  such  a  certainty ! '  was  the  expres-. 
sion  of  one  of  the  bystanders.  The  bier  was  carried  out 
first  through  his  workroom,  where  he  had  labored  with 
unwearied  industry,  often  half  through  the  night,  for 
those  near  and  far,  under  the  impulse  of  the  living  idea 
in  himself  and  his  all-encompassing  love  for  humanity  ; 
past  his  beloved  flowers,  of  which  he  took  such  care,  and 
which,  as  if  from  gratitude,  made  plain  to  him  the  highest 
truths,  like  his  yet  dearer  pupils,  the  children  ;  then 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          295 

through  the  sitting-room,  where  Pestalozzi  seemed  to 
call  to  him  from  his  portrait,  —  'Slowly,  step  by  step, 
will  be  laid  the  sure  foundation  for  the  temple  of  pure 
humanity,'  —  and  the  divine  Madonna  looked  at  him 
as  with  thanks  that  he  had  so  deeply  divined  her 
heart's  desire,  and  shaped  it  into  deed  and  love  for  all ; 
and  finally  through  the  lecture-hall,  where  his  scholars 
had  listened  with  rapt  attention  to  his  words,  which  kin- 
dled them  to  their  high  calling,  —  where  strangers  from 
north  and  south  had  thronged  together,  and  from  whence 
they  had  gone  possessed  by  the  might  of  truth.  As  one 
said,  '  He  does  not  preach  like  the  learned,  but  his 
speech  is  powerful';  and  many  of  these  have  widely 
( borne  the  seed  with  his  motto/'  Come,  let  us  live  with  ] 
{  our  children  !J  J 

^  "  The  garlanded  bier  was  set  down  in  the  spacious 
vestibule,  to  be  strewn  with  wreaths  and  flowers  by  the 
numerous  children.  All,  even  the  smallest,  tried  to  show 
their  love  and  gratitude  to  him  once  more. 

"  But  not  only  children  came  ;  friends,  known  and  un- 
known, pressed  forward  to  show  their  esteem  and  rever- 
ence ;  the  teachers  of  the  country  round  about,  one  and 
all,  kindergartners  and  those  he  had  befriended,  came 
even  from  a  great  distance,  invited  by  their  own  hearts 
to  that  solemn  day. 

"The  teachers  united  in  a  solemn  song,  in  moving 
tones.  Then  the  train  was  set  in  motion  towards  the 
churchyard  of  the  village  of  Schweina. 

"  A  heavy  shower  fell  while  it  was  on  the  way,  so  that 
we  were  obliged  to  stand  under  shelter  for  a  long  time. 
Parson  Riickert  remarked,  '  Even  his  last  journey  is 
through  storm  and  tempest.' 


296          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

"  When  the  procession  was  again  set  in  motion,  and 
passed  over  the  bridge  of  the  brook,  Ernst  Luther,  a 
descendant-  of  the  great  reformer,  whom  Froebel  and  his 
brother  had  educated  gratuitously  in  Keilhau,  out  of  re- 
gard for  his  ancestor,  said,  '  Thirty-five  years  ago  to-day 
he  here  led  me  by  the  hand  through  Schweina.' 

"  The  bells  of  the  village  church  began  to  toll ;  it  was 
so  earnest  and  sacred,  as  if  these  solemn  peals  called 
him  to  come  up  into  the  land  of  the  blessed,  and  said 
with  their  voices  that  the  night  had  passed,  that  we  should 
hasten  to  follow  his  onward,  conquering  banner,  and 
build  the  new  world  by  means  of  the  children  !  At  the 
gate  of  the  churchyard  the  teachers  took  the  bier  upon 
their  shoulders,  to  carry  it  to  the  place  prepared  for  it. 

"  The  newly  laid  out  churchyard,  situated  outside  the 
village  upon  an  eminence,  has  a  singularly  beautiful  loca- 
tion. The  town  lies  half  concealed  in  verdure,  at  the 
foot  of  a  tower  which  rises  up  alone,  like  a  finger-post 
pointing  to  heaven  ;  the  whole  glorious  country  lies 
spread  out  before  the  eye  like  a  living  picture.  At  the 
left,  Altenstein,  with  the  summer  dwelling  of  the  ducal 
family,  stretches  out  its  high  hand  with  noble  grace,  as 
if  protecting  the  young  colony,  showing  by  its  act  that 
it  truly  reverences  the  cross  which  is  erected  in  mem- 
ory of  Bonifacius,  the  earliest  promulgator  of  Chris- 
tianity here.  Directly  in  front  stands  the  old  castle  of 
Liebenstein  whose  name  has  a  good  sound  near  and  far 
for  its  healing  springs;  and  on  the  right,  shaded  with 
lofty  poplars  and  surrounded  by  green  meadows  and 
waving  fields  of  grain,  with  the  murmur  of  clear  waters 
streaming  from  the  rock  of  Altenstein,  the  quiet,  lovely 
Marienthal,  the  seat  of  peace,  of  untiring  work  for  the 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.  297 

worthiness  and  the  unity  of  life,  consecrated  by  him  who 
had  now  come  to  this  spot  for  undisturbed  rest  and  har- 
mony. 

"Notwithstanding  the  storm  and  the  rain  which  still 
continued,  a  large  part  of  the  community  had  assembled, 
and  mothers  and  fathers,  maidens  and  youths,  and  nu- 
merous children  stood  around  the  open  grave.  The 
venerable  old  burial-hymn,  'Jerusalem,  thou  lofty  city,' 
was  sung.  Then  Pastor  Riickert  began  his  address  at 
the  grave,  and  at  that  moment  the  rain  ceased.  The 
address  began  with  the  following  words  :  — 

"  '  Up  to  the  lofty  city  of  God  soars  the  spirit  of  the  man 
whom  we  now,  grieving,  gaze  after ;  far  above  mountain 
and  valley  it  soars  over  all  and  hastens  from  this  world. 
Loved,  honored,  admired,  praised  by  some,  misunder- 
stood, misapprehended,  calumniated,  condemned  by 
others,  he  soars  over  all.  The  body  which  for  seventy 
years  served  this  rare  spirit  as  a  vigorous  instrument, 
after  the  last  spark  of  this  richly  active  and  remarkable 
life  has  gone  out,  shall  now  rest  here  in  the  churchyard 
of  our  community,  which  with  pride  counted  the  great 
man  among  its  citizens ;  in  sight  of  this  mountain  which 
he  not  long  ago  climbed  with  eagerness,  of  this  house  of 
God  where  he  celebrated  with  us  piously  the  feast  of 
Pentecost,  of  the  lovely  Marienthal  where  the  noble  old 
man  had  found  in  the  evening  of  his  days  a  peaceful 
refuge  for  his  philanthropic  activity. 

" '  Blessed  are  the  dead  who  die  in  the  Lord  from 
henceforth,  saith  the  spirit,  that  they  may  rest  from  their 
labors ;  and  their  works  do  follow  them.'  These  words 

belong  to  our  dead  also Yes,  this  is  one  who 

died  in  the  Lord.  He  has  lived  in  the  Lord,  therefore 
he  has  also  died  in  the  Lord,  sweetly  and  happily.' 


298          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

The  following  passages  from  this  discourse  may  be 
added  here :  — 

"  The  fame  of  knowledge  was  not  his  ambition.  Glow- 
ing love  for  mankind,  for  the  people,  left  him  neither  rest 
nor  quiet.  After  he  had  offered  his  life  for  his  native 
land  in  the  wars  of  freedom,  he  turned  with  the  same 
enthusiasm  which  surrenders  and  sacrifices  for  the  high- 
est thought,  to  the  aim  of  cultivating  the  people  and 
youth,  founded  the  celebrated  institution  at  Keilhau 
among  his  native  mountains,  and  talked,  and  planted 
in  the  domain  of  men's  hearts.  And  how  many  brave 
men  has  he  educated,  who  honor  his  memory  and  bless 
his  name !  .  .  .  .  But  then  the  thought  came  to  him  that 
the  educators  of  men  must  imitate  the  creative  and  pro- 
ductive divinity  in  nature,  which  prefigures  and  deter- 
mines the  future  plant  in  the  tenderest  germ,  shields  and 
protects  it  carefully,  out  of  the  smallest  and  simplest, 
gradually  and  step  by  step  develops  the  highest  and  the 
noblest ;  that  the  body  and  soul  of  the  tender  little  one 
shall  be  brought  from  the  earliest  childhood  under  a 
more  intelligent  and  more  careful  nurture  than  has  been 
done  heretofore,  when  children  were  sent  to  school 
already  corrupted  in  body  and  soul ;  and  that,  above  all, 
this  loving  nurture  should  be  trusted  to  the  tender  hand 
of  women,  whom  the  heavenly  Father  has  created  for  this 
maternal  calling ;  and  to  found  such  kindergartens,  and 
to  train  such  kindergartners,  was  henceforth  his  whole 
endeavor,  from  which  he  hoped  with  full  confidence  for 
the  future  salvation  of  humanity  and  the  deliverance  from 
manifold  bodily  and  spiritual  ills 

"  To  this  high  aim  he  now  sacrificed  all  his  powers,  his 
property,  his  time,  his  repose.  And  perhaps  children  of 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          299 

his  own  were  denied  him  by  the  decree  of  the  Eternal 
Wisdom,  that  he  might  not  be  bound  and  limited  by 
cares  for  his  own,  that  he  might  see  and  love  in  the 
poorest  human  child  the  child  of  God,  and  in  the  eye  of 
every  child  might  read  the  command,  '  Thou  shalt  take 
care  with  all  thy  strength  that  the  divine  image  be  not 
defaced  or  distorted ;  thou  shalt,  with  all  thy  gifts,  work 
and  help  that  it  be  preserved  and  shaped  more  purely 
and  beautifully,  and  that  not  the  least  of  these  be  lost.' 

"  For  this  he  labored  now ;  he  moved  about  unceasingly 
teaching  and  working,  imitating  the  Master,  who  had  not 
where  to  lay  his  head  ;  gathered  unto  himself  little  chil- 
dren, and  laid  his  hand  upon  their  heads  and  said,  '  Suf- 
fer little  children  to  come  unto  me,  for  of  such  is  the 
kingdom  of  heaven.'  For  this  he  labored  into  the  late 
evening  of  his  life,  and  thereby  the  venerable  old  man 
himself  was  made  young  again  amongst  the  playing  chil- 
dren. For  this  he  lived,  for  this  he  suffered,  and  regard- 
less of  the  cry  '  Hosanna,'  or  '  Crucify  him,'  he  took  his 
cross  patiently,  and  bore  it  after  his  Master,  and  sub- 
mitted trustingly  to  abuse,  calumny,  and  persecution,  and 
Christ-like,  pardoned  the  deluded  ones  who  knew  not 
what  they  did,  since  he  knew  well  that  the  disciple  was 
not  above  his  Master.  However,  the  mental  excitement 
and  effort  which  these  struggles  cost  him  contributed  to 

break  up  the  vitality  of  the  vigorous  old  man So 

have  we  too,  among  whom  he  spent  the  last  years  of  his 
life,  learned  to  know  and  to  love  this  guileless  soul,  this 
pure,  childlike  nature ;  you  will  all  bear  witness,  even  if 
you  did  not  hear  his  last  pious  words,  this  our  dead  died 
in  the  Lord,  for  he  lived  for  the  Lord.  Henceforth,  lack 
of  understanding  and  misunderstanding  will  no  more 


300  REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

afflict  thee.  Just  souls  are  in  the  hands  of  God,  and  no 
pains  touch  them.  Thou  hast  now  found  peace,  and 
heaven,  which  thou  didst  foreshadow  among  thy  dear 
little  ones  in  the  vale  of  earth,  now  surrounds  thee  with 
its  purified  indwellers,  whose  image  our  innocent  children 

are The  fruits  of  thy  toil  wilt  thou  there  enjoy ; 

from  the  abode  of  holy  spirits  thou  wilt  look  with  trans- 
port upon  the  plantation  which  thou  hast  founded  upon 
earth.  And  here  too  shall  thy  works  not  perish.  Works 
like  these,  instituted  out  of  pure  love  to  God  and  to  man, 
without  selfishness  and  ambition,  are  wrought  in  God  and 
cannot  perish.  Thy  work  will  be  continued.  If  thou  art 
now  laid  to  rest,  others  will  rise  up  and  carry  on  the  work. 
The  seed  which  thou  hast  sown  will,  ripening  in  quiet, 
always  bring  richer  and  richer  harvest  for  the  salvation  of 
mankind.  May  the  earth  which  rises  over  thy  grave, 
pious  soul,  rest  lightly  upon  thee,  and  when  moss  and 
turf  grow  green,  and  flowers  bloom  over  this  heart  which 
beat  so  warmly  for  its  brothers ;  when  the  little  ones  with 
whom  thou  didst  play  shall  have  grown  gray,  then  will 
posterity  bend  its  steps  to  this  pleasant  burial-spot,  and 
crown  it  with  garlands,  and  some  strong  man  will  tarry 
here  thoughtfully,  thanking  and  blessing  thee,  and  the 
spirit  within  him  will  say, '  Here  a  great,  noble  heart  rests 
from  its  work ;  it  has  labored  for  the  earliest  childhood 
and  for  the  latest  future ;  labored  in  hope,  and  its  hope 
was  not  lost, — his  works  follow  after  him.' 
I  quote  again  from  Middendorff's  letter  :  — 
"  The  teachers  sang  the  song, '  Rest  softly,'  etc.  Then 
the  coffin  was  lowered  into  the  grave,  which  was  filled 
with  flowers.  The  heavens  had  withdrawn  their  dark 
curtain,  and  the  sun  shone  down  into  the  open  grave. 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          301 

I  stepped  forward  and  said  :  '  If  thy  ear  were  not  closed 
and  thy  mouth  not  dumb,  thy  lips  would  now  open  and 
thou  wouldst  exult  over  what  thou  hast  heard,  that  that 
of  which  thou  wert  so  certain  has  already  been  fulfilled, 
even  though  in  a  small  circle,  —  the  acknowledgment  of 

the  truth  proclaimed  by  thee Even  thy  last  journey 

was  through  storm  and  tempest,  as  has  been  already  said. 
Thou  hast  taken  the  storm  and  the  heavy  way  for  thy 
companions,  and  hast  reminded  us  what  journeys  thou 
didst  make  through  thy  whole  life  in  night  and  tempest, 
and  what  heavy  ways  thou  hast  travelled  for  us.  Thou 
permittest  us  now  to  proclaim  the  not-to-be-forgotten 
truth  that  he  who  is  with  thee,  and  will  follow  thee,  must 
be  ready  to  follow  thee  through  storm  and  through  toil 
and  hardship;  must  be  ready  for  what  thy  life  has  taught, 
'  Through  conflict  to  victory!'  Thou  hadst  not  merely  the 
courage  to  pledge  thy  life  in  war,  in  peace  also  hast  thou 
pledged  it  again  and  again,  and  joyfully  hast  sacrificed 
all  to  thy  cause. 

"  Thou  didst  often  say,  '  I  like  the  storm  ;  it  brings 
new  life ' ;  the  lightning  which  on  our  way  here  flashed 
out  of  the  cloud  shall  remind  us  that  the  darkness  which 
still  obscures  the  time  can  be  rent  and  illuminated  by  a 
mighty  ray ;  it  reminds  us  how  thy  words,  thy  inspired 
action,  fell  like  a  fire-flame  into  the  dark  heart,  sum- 
moned the  sleeping  conscience  to  awake,  and  made  clear 
to  itself  the  darkened  mind.  Does  not  one  (the  descend- 
ant of  Luther)  stand  here  by  my  side,  who  feels  now  in 
his  heart,  with  burning  thanks,  how  thou  didst  lead  him 
many  years  ago  in  the  path  of  a  worthy  existence  ?  Will 
not  many  of  those  present  confess  that  thou  hast  thrown 
into  their  minds  a  kindling  and  illuminating  torch,  hast 
opened  up  to  them  new  ways  of  culture,  and  hast  fur- 


302          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

nished  them  the  means  of  turning  the  kindled  thought 
into  act  ?  and  for  how  many  maidens  in  the  night  of  an 
embittered  existence  hast  thou  lighted  the  star  of  a  better 
hope,  and  cast  the  saving  rope  into  the  dangerous  breakers 
and  drawn  them  to  the  green  shore  of  child-nurture?  .  .  .  . 

"Thou  callest  upon  us:  'You  are  my  last  witnesses,  be 
my  true  disciples  and  heralds;  be  the  true  little  band  which 
shall  always  increase,  and  which  the  greater  one  shall  join. 
Think  of  me  and  my  words ;  He  who  was  with  me  will 
be  with  you,  and  will  give  you  courage  and  strength  as 

he  has  vouchsafed  it  to  me,  even  to  the  grave 

Thank  me  by  silence  and  action,  by  a  deeply  penetrat- 
ing insight  and  a  united  creative  practice.'  ....  There 
stand  the  mothers  with  their  nurslings  in  their  arms, 
their  children  by  their  sides,  who  bear  witness  that  thou 
hast  smoothed  the  way  to  the  minds  of  men  not  only  by 
the  fire  of  thy  speech,  but  also  by  the  tones  of  song  with 
which,  like  the  delicious,  caressing  wind  and  the  fresh 
morning  breeze,  thou  hast  imbued  the  hearts  of  the 
mothers. 

"  Now  a  song  I  had  written  for  the  occasion  was  sung, 
which  was  followed  by  the  sacred  hymn, 

"  Rise  again,  thou  shalt  rise  again." 

•  "  The  pastor  said,  as  he  threw  a  handful  of  earth  into 
the  grave,  '  May  God  grant  to  each  of  us  such  an  end 
as  that  of  this  just  man.' 

"As  the  bystanders  repeated  this  act,  Luther  cried  with 
a  loud  and  agitated  voice  into  the  grave,  '  I  thank  thee, 
too.' 

"The  scholars  threw  flowers  upon  flowers  into  the 
grave ;  one  took  her  bouquet  from  her  breast  and  threw 
it  in ;  then  I  cast  in  my  song  also,  as  the  last  gift. 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  303 

"Mutually  consoled,  we  separated  quietly,  and  with 
inward  confidence,  to  go  in  our  various  directions ;  and 
over  the  minds  and  feelings  of  all  spread  the  wings  of  an 
exalted  peace." 

Thus  Middendorff  ended  his  communication,  which 
certainly  deserves  not  to  be  forgotten,  and  perhaps  leaves 
upon  others  the  same  elevating  impression  which  it  has 
made  again  and  again  upon  me,  and  upon  many  followers 
and  pupils. 

Only  on  this  day  of  his  burial  did  I  learn  the  sad  news, 
for  which  I  was  somewhat  prepared  by  a  short  letter  giv- 
ing notice  of  his  illness.  My  own  illness  and  domestic 
circumstances  had  delayed  me,  but  I  was  on  the  point 
of  starting  for  Liebenstein  when  the  afflicting  news  was 
brought  me  at  Pilnitz  by  Director  Marquard.  We,  his 
disciples  and  scholars,  could  scarcely  believe  that  that 
life  recently  so  strong  and  serenely  happy  was  ended ; 
that  the  new  education  had  now  lost  its  champion.  It 
scarcely  seemed  possible  to  insure  its  continuance  with- 
out him.  It  seemed  in  the  first  moments  as  if  all  sank 
together,  and  to  the  thousand  unspoken  questions  which 
we  still  wished  to  ask,  the  answer  could  never  come.  .  .  . 

"  What  will  now  become  of  the  cause  ? "  were  my 
first  words  to  Middendorff,  when  I  arrived  at  Liebenstein 
on  the  zd  of  July,  1852,  and  everything  there,  still  more 
in  Marienthal,  seemed  deserted  and  dead. 

"We  will  work  with  all  our  powers,"  answered  Mid- 
dendorff. "  Truth  is  not  lost." 

The  residence  in  the  house  of  the  Liebenstein  kinder- 
garten, in  which  I  intended  to  pass  the  summer  months, — 


304          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

for  many  years,  as  I  had  hoped, — in  order  to  learn  more 
from  Froebel,  and  to  labor  with  him  in  his  work,  was 
now  useless,  and  would  have  to  be  given  up.  Mature  con- 
sideration by  Middendorff  and  Froebel's  widow  showed 
that  the  continuation  of  the  institution  in  Marienthal  was 
impracticable.  It  could  not  continue  without  Midden- 
dorff's  direction  and  instruction,  and  that  was  indispensa- 
ble at  Keilhau.  After  much  parley  we  all  agreed  that  the 
removal  of  the  kindergarten  training-institution  to  Keil- 
hau could  not  be  prevented,  and  must  take  place  in  the 
late  autumn,  after  the  course  for  the  present  scholars 
should  be  completed. 

Until  that  time  the  present  pupils  were  to  be  taught 
in  Marienthal  by  Middendorff  and  Madame  Froebel. 
Among  these  pupils  were  some  gifted  and  intelligent 
natures,  especially  Ruwada  Goose,  whom  Froebel  par- 
ticularly esteemed,  who  took  hold  of  the  subject  with 
great  zeal,  and  who  has  always  remained  true  to  it,  and 
is  at  present  occupied  as  the  directress  of  a  kindergarten 
of  her  own  in  Wilhelmshafen.  She  was  descended,  on 
the  mother's  side,  from  a  Turk,  and  possessed  a  peculiar, 
quick  power  of  apprehension  that  particularly  attracted 
Froebel. 

Middendorff  devoted  his  whole  time  and  strength  to 
this  instruction  through  the  summer,  assisted  by  Madame 
Froebel,  who  taught  the  scholars  the  practical  occupa- 
tions. Although  deeply  afflicted  by  the  sad,  irreparable 
loss  of  her  husband  after  only  one  year's  married  life, 
she  fulfilled  the  task,  now  become  so  much  more  difficult, 
with  the  greatest  conscientiousness,  firmly  resolved  to  de- 
vote her  whole  strength  to  it  in  order  to  preserve  and 
promote  the  work  already  begun.  At  the  same  time  she 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          305 

remained  an  affectionate,  motherly  friend  and  guardian 
to  the  pupils. 

Froebel's  grave  was  still  without  a  monument,  and  we 
consulted,  immediately  after  my  arrival,  how  that  should 
be  cared  for.  After  long  consideration,  Middendorff 
proposed  Froebel's  Second  Gift ;  to  place  upon  the 
grave,  one  upon  another,  the  cube,  the  cylinder,  and  the 
sphere.  I  was  of  the  opinion  that  the  three  objects 
should  be  so  placed  that  the  sphere  should  rest  upon  the 
cube,  and  the  cylinder  should  lean  upon  them,  in  order 
to  avoid  the  impression  of  stiffness ;  but  we  adhered  at 
last  to  Middendorff 's  proposal. 

Unfortunately,  the  amount  contributed  by  Middendorff, 
and  the  equal  amount  added  by  myself,  did  not  suffice 
for  setting  up  a  monument  of  large  size,  and  of  granite. 
We  were  compelled,  therefore,  to  be  satisfied  with  sand- 
stone as  material,  and  the  objects  of  a  smaller  size,  hoping 
that  the  time  would  come  when  a  monument  worthy  of 
Froebel,  as  a  benefactor  of  mankind,  would  be  erected. 
On  the  plain  gravestone,  provisionally  erected  by  us, 

/  Froebel's  motto  was  engraven,  "  Come,  let  us  live  with  ) 
our  children."  On  a  walk  to  the  churchyard  we  enjoyed/ 
anew  the  splendid  prospect  from  Froebel's  grave,  and 

\  thought  that  no  monument  could  so  adorn  the  place  as 
K nature  had  done. 

On  this  spot  Middendorff  related  to  me  many  particu- 
lars of  Froebel's  last  moments  :  how  he  had  never  in  his 
life  been  so  tender  ;  how  joyfully  he  occupied  himself  with 
the  future,  when  in  moments  of  hope  it  appeared  to  him 
again  and  again  that  he  might  recover ;  how  deeply  con- 
vinced he  was  that  his  work  would  live,  would  develop, 
and  would  bring  the  expected  blessing,  —  the  blessing 


306  REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL. 

that  new  and  better  men  would  be  raised  up  by  a  new 
and  better  beginning  of  human  life. 

"  It  is  certainly  permitted  to  spirits  in  the  other  world 
to  have  an  influence  on  the  work  they  have  left  behind," 
I  said,  "  through  the  men  of  like  thought  who  were  asso- 
ciated with  them  in  life.  Besides,  one  can  scarcely  im- 
agine a  future  life  in  which  there  is  a  change  from  the 
earlier  to  entirely  new  interests.  Still  less  can  one  think 
of  a  higher  existence  without  activity.  Therefore  I  be- 
lieve that  God  grants  to  mortal  spirits,  after  their  death, 
a  part  in  the  government  of  the  earth,  so  far  as  they 
deserve  it.  Perhaps  God  shares  the  government  of  the 
world  with  the  higher  spirits,  —  those  called  '  angels '  by 
the  popular  belief,  —  and  they  descend  to  us  like  the 
sunbeams,  and  influence  pur  spirits  as  they  awaken  ter- 
restrial life." 

"  I,  too,  think  as  you  do,"  said  Midden  dorff.  "  The 
idea  of  a  complete  separation  between  here  and  there 
would  contradict  the  unbroken  continuity  of  the  world, 
and  the  union  of  all  life,  through  the  all-pervading  spirit 
of  God." 

The  instruction  of  the  scholars  now  claimed  all  Mid- 
dendorff's  interest  and  took  all  his  strength.  With  what 
love  and  tenderness,  moreover,  did  he  address  the  young 
maidens !  With  what  inspiration  did  he  awaken  their 
enthusiasm,  always  referring  to  the  departed  friend  who 
had  devoted  his  life  to  putting  into  practice  the  idea 
committed  to  him  by  God ! 

But  besides  taking  part  in  the  theoretical  instruction, 
he  played  the  movement  plays,  prepared  by  Madame 
Froebel,  with  the  scholars,  and  often,  also,  with  the  chil- 
dren in  the  Liebenstein  kindergarten.  Whoever  saw  him 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.         307 

there  was  charmed  by  the  touching,  childlike  simplicity 
of  the  white-haired  man.  The  visitors  whom  I  brought 
to  Marienthal,  or  into  our  kindergarten,  often  said  to  me, 
"  If  one  knew  nothing  of  Froebel's  education,  and  only 
saw  Middendorff  playing  with  the  children,  he  would  be 
won  over  to  the  cause." 

The  physician  at  the  Baths  of  Liebenstein,  whom  I 
questioned  in  regard  to  Froebel's  last  days,  said,  "  I  have 
seen  many  men  die,  but  never  any  one  who  looked  into 
the  face  of  death  so  cheerfully  and  so  calmly  as  Froebel." 

"  One  day,"  he  continued,  "  he  asked  me  what  I 
thought  of  his  condition,  and  whether  he  could  live  a 
short  time  longer.  I  thought  I  ought  to  speak  the  real 
truth,  and  was  able  to  do  so,  to  him.  I  advised  him  not 
to  postpone  his  last  directions,  since  the  failing  of  his 
powers  left  little  hope  of  recovery.  He  took  my  words 
with  the  greatest  calmness,  and  I  did  not  notice  the  least 
change  in  his  countenance. 

"  When  I  went  to  him  on  the  following  noon,  they  told 
me  that  he  had  added  some  last  directions  to  his  will 
that  morning.  At  the  door  of  his  chamber  I  heard  a 
low  singing,  like  the  chirping  of  the  birds  which  were 
singing  out  of  doors,  and  when  I  entered,  I  found  Froe- 
bel sitting  up  in  the  bed,  which  was  pushed  up  to 
the  open  window,  looking  with  glorified  joy  on  the 
landscape  before  him  and  singing  softly  to  himself.  To 
my  remark,  'You  appear  to  be  better,  Professor,  and 
to  be  more  cheerful,'  he  replied,  '  Why  should  I  not  ? 
I  enjoy  beautiful  nature  even  in  my  last  moments.'  I 
never  found  him,  on  my  visits,  impatient,  complaining, 
or  even  discontented.  He  was  a  rare  man  !  "  So  spoke 
his  physician. 


308          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

Middendorff's  favorite  recreation  after  severe  labor 
was  to  walk  in  the  beautiful  neighborhood  of  Marienthal, 
and  he  was  accompanied  by  the  scholars,  and  often  by 
Madame  Froebel  and  myself.  He  came  to  me  frequently 
in  the  evening,  and  we  then  discussed  how  Froebel's 
work  could  be  best  continued  by  us.  The  giving  up  of 
Marienthal  was  the  hardest  thing,  especially  for  Madame 
Froebel,  who  had  become  attached  to  the  place. 

Middendorfif  often  said,  "  You,  Madame  von  Maren- 
holz,  must  undertake  the  spreading  it  in  foreign  coun- 
tries ;  we  others  cannot  do  that,  and,  you  know,  Froebel 
always  desired  it." 

"I  see  plainly,"  I  answered,  "that  this  will  be  necessary, 
if  people  continue  to  misapprehend  and  persecute  the 
cause  in  Germany,  and  yet  I  would  much  prefer  it  if  we 
could  establish  something  regular  here  at  home,  and  then 
be  able  in  other  countries  to  point  to  a  model  institution 
here.  But  my  courage  fails  when  I  hope  for  that,  when 
I  consider  the  condition  of  affairs  at  Berlin,  where  the 
reaction  is  always  on  the  increase,  and  people  think  our 
cause  must  be  cast  among  the  things  '  which  shake  society 
in  its  foundations.'  You  don't  know  how  absurdly  the 
fear  of  being  out  of  favor  with  the  ruling  class  shows 
itself,  when  I  ask  people  to  undertake  the  defence  of  our 
educational  cause. 

"  For  these  reasons  it  appears  to  me  that  we  must 
seek  to  gain  over  foreign  countries,  so  that  we  may  open 
the  way  from  them  for  the  cause  in  Germany.  How  sad 
that  it  is  so,  and  that  there  is  so  little  independence  in 
our  own  country !  As  soon  as  my  personal  affairs  per- 
mit, I  will  see  what  can  be  accomplished  abroad. 

"  I  think  it  must  be  possible  some  time  to  establish  an 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          309 

International  Educational  Union,  which  may  gradually 
unite  all  civilized  nations  in  the  maintenance  of  Froebel's 
method.  The  care  of  parents  for  the  education  of  their 
children  is  the  same  in  all  countries,  and  ought  to  over- 
come all  differences  of  political  and  religious  views  and 
interests." 

This  idea  of  such  an  educational  union  was,  even  at  that 
time,  often  discussed  by  us,  and  never  was  forgotten  in 
my  activity.  I  looked  upon  Berlin  as  the  starting-point 
for  its  consummation,  and  therefore  my  activity  in  foreign 
countries  always  brought  me  back  there.  But,  alas !  the 
favorable  conditions  which  existed  there  later  did  not 
then  permit  the  accomplishment  of  this  plan.  Hostile 
opposition  from  parties  from  whom  I  had  the  fullest  right 
to  expect  every  encouragement,  rude  interference  from 
incapables,  and  the  like,  induced  me,  after  some  at- 
tempts, to  desist  and  to  give  up  Berlin. 

What  failed  there  succeeded,  in  1870,  in  Dresden,  from 
which  the  General  Educational  Union  now  casts  out  its 
net,  to  plant  the  educational  idea  of  Froebel  on  all  sides. 
The  Union  at  present  counts  twenty  branch  unions,  and 
gives,  in  the  institution  of  its  Froebel- foundation,  an  op- 
portunity to  many  poor  girls  to  get  instruction  in  Froe- 
bel's educational  doctrines,  and  by  its  application  in  fam- 
ilies and  in  kindergartens  to  occupy  themselves  usefully 
and  happily,  and  at  the  same  time  to  find  their  means  of 
livelihood. 

The  next  century  will  perhaps  see  realized  the  idea  of 
an  international  association,  for  the  purpose  of  true  hu- 
man education. 

In  our  time  a  narrow  particularism,  both  of  race  and 
of  individuals,  which  understands  no  interests  but  per- 


310          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

sonal  ones,  impedes  the  complete  accomplishment  of  this 
idea. 

The  summer  of  1852  passed  very  quietly.  I  mingled 
but  little  with  the  summer  visitors,  among  whom  there 
were  this  year  no  distinguished  or  well-known  notabili- 
ties. Diesterweg  could  not  come,  and  the  Duchess  Ida, 
whom  I  saw  almost  daily,  broke  up  her  stay  this  year 
earlier  than  usual,  in  order  to  go  with  her  daughters  to  a 
watering-place,  and  thence  to  Holland-  to  her  husband, 
Duke  Bernhard  Von  Weimar.  Few  visitors  came  to 
Marienthal  this  year,  and  our  circle  was  very  small. 
But  Middendorff's  fresh  spirits  and  almost  always  quiet, 
cheerful  disposition  enlivened  it,  and  kept  every  one  in 
good  temper. 

But  we  had  a  visit  from  an  old  friend,  Dr.  Schewe, 
who  had  been  in  Liebenstein  two  years  before,  and  had 
then  visited  Froebel  in  Marienthal,  and  examined  his 
head.  Froebel  had  never  given  any  attention  to  phre- 
nology, but  was  nevertheless  of  the  opinion  that  it  could 
not  but  be  true  that  the  organs  of  the  human  brain 
should  show  the  stamp  of  the  mind,  which  they  served 
as  an  instrument. 

When,  at  that  time,  I  informed  Froebel  of  the  visit  of 
Dr.  Schewe,  whose  acquaintance  I  had  made  during  the 
previous  winter  in  Berlin,  and  from  whom  I  had  received 
some  instruction  in  phrenology,  Froebel  expressed  his 
pleasure  at  being  able  to  know  something  more  of  the 
subject.  He  listened  to  Schewe's  explanations  with 
lively  interest,  and  agreed  with  him,  that  education  might 
derive  great  benefit  from  this  branch  of  knowledge,  if 
its  results  were  completely  and  scientifically  established. 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  3!  I 

Froebel  said :  "  What  we  use  is  in  some  way  or  other 
influenced  and  changed  by  the  use,  or  else  is  used  up. 
The  special  kind  of  work  which  we  perform  affects  the 
form  of  our  hands  decidedly.  The  hand  of  the  musician 
is  differently  formed  from  that  of  the  wood-chopper,  etc. 
So  it  appears  to  me  natural  that  the  work  of  our  brains 
and  the  motions  connected  therewith  should  affect  its 
form.  Dropping  water  wears  away  the  rock.  But  it  is 
the  mind  which  puts  the  substance  of  the  brain  into 
motion,  —  and  the  brain  cannot  conversely  produce  the 
mind.  The  brain,  after  it  is  developed,  is  a  more  or  less 
well-suited  organ  for  the  mind,  just  as  this  or  that  ma- 
terial is  suited  for  catching  and  holding  the  sun's  rays." 

Froebel  was  very  eager  to  know  the  result  of  the  ex- 
amination of  his  head,  which  Dr.  Schewe  made  in  my 
presence,  and  assented  to  most  of  his  conclusions. 

It  seemed  to  me  strange  that  Dr.  Schewe  ranked  the 
organs  of  observation,  which,  indeed,  assist  the  general 
powers,  above  the  higher  faculties  of  thought  in  Froebel. 
To  my  question,  how  genius  made  itself  apparent  in 
the  organs,  Dr.  Schewe  said  that  it  could  not  be  de- 
fined ;  that  many  things  must  concur  for  it,  but  yet 
that  single  qualities  must  predominate  strongly,  as  was 
the  case  with  Froebel.  He  had  seldom  seen  so  strong 
powers  of  observation,  especially  the  mathematical  sense, 
or  the  sense  of  form  and  number ;  and,  likewise,  the 
sense  of  activity  (Thdtigkeit}  and  that  of  firmness  and 
perseverance  was  large. 

Froebel  said,  in  reference  to  genius,  "  That  is  the  burn- 
ing-glass in  the  brain,  which  catches  the  rays  of  the 
sun  immediately." 

Dr.  Schewe  expressed  to  us  his  sorrow  on  account  of 


312  REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

the  unexpected  decease  of  Froebel,  and  again  asserted 
his  willingness  to  contribute  as  far  as  lay  in  his  power  to 
the  spread  of  Froebel's  educational  method,  of  the  cor- 
rectness and  great  importance  of  which  he  was  fully 
convinced.  This  promise  he  fulfilled  by  using  every 
opportunity  to  call  attention  to  the  subject,  and,  later,  by 
his  participation  as  a  co-worker  in  the  periodical,  "  The 
Education  of  the  Present,"  established  by  me  in  1861, 
which  contained,  in  its  first  two  volumes,  a  number  of 
articles  on  "  Phrenology  and  Education,"  by  Dr.  Schewe. 

When,  in  the  middle  of  October,  I  returned  from  a 
visit  to  the  reigning  duchess  of  Meiningen,  in  Meiningen, 
where,  under  the  auspices  of  the  duchess,  the  first  kin- 
dergarten in  that  place  had  been  opened,  I  called  one 
afternoon  in  Marienthal,  but  found  the  house  empty,  in 
spite  of  the  cold  and  rainy  weather.  I  was  told  that 
Middendorff  and  his  scholars  were  on  the  hill  behind 
the  house.  From  this  hill  Froebel  had  been  accustomed, 
almost  every  evening,  when  the  weather  was  fine,  to  see 
the  sunset,  that  most  beautiful  natural  spectacle,  as  it 
seemed  to  him,  which  he  always  looked  upon  with  true 
devotion. 

I  went  to  the  hill  and  saw  from  a  distance  the  smoke 
rising  from  a  fire  that  had  been  kindled.  Approaching 
nearer,  I  saw  Middendorff  with  the  scholars  standing  in 
a  circle  around  the  clear-blazing  fire.  He  had  an  open 
book  in  his  hand ;  the  scholars  were  throwing  dry  chest- 
nuts into  the  fire,  to  make  it  crackle  ;  and  all  were  sing- 
ing Korner's  "  Battle  Song  "  with  full  voices.  Then  it 
occurred  to  me  that  it  was  the  i8th  of  October,  and  that 
the  day  was  being  celebrated  here. 

And  this  festival  was  in  no  way  a  pastime,  which  they 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          313 

were  enjoying,  but  was  celebrated  by  Middendorff  with 
solemn  earnestness,  as  it  was  also  at  Keilhau,  annually, 
in  order  to  awaken  in  the  young  souls  the  love  of  their 
native  land.  He  thought  girls  ought  to  be  educated 
into  patriotism  equally  with  the  boys,  if  not  to  bear  the 
sword  later,  at  least  for  other  necessary  patriotic  deeds  in 
times  of  war. 

Middendorff  now  made  a  little  address,  in  which  he 
spoke  of  the  great  victory,  with  enthusiastic  reminiscen- 
ces of  his  own  war  life,  and  showed  that  if  the  women 
wished  to  bring  up  brave  sons  for  their  native  country, 
the  feeling  of  love  for  it  should  not  remain  foreign  to 
them,  and  they  must  also  be  fitted  to  kindle  courage  in 
their  own  souls,  which  in  times  of  danger  should  awaken 
in  each  one  the  necessary  desire  for  self-sacrifice  and 
self-denial. 

We  then  sang  several  battle-songs  and  songs  of  vic- 
tory from  a  book  that  Middendorff  had  brought  with 
him.  In  the  evening  Middendorff  told  us  of  some  of 
the  campaigns  which  he  had  made  with  Froebel  and 
Langethal  in  Lutzow's  corps.  Among  other  things  he 
told  us  how  a  maiden  had  served  in  this  corps  as 
Ja'ger,  had  fought  bravely,  and  had  prepared  good 
food,  and  how  her  sex  had  not  been  discovered  until 
she  was  wounded.  But  he  spoke  especially  of  Froebel's 
coolness  during  the  campaign  and  in  battles.  Once, 
when  their  Ja'ger  corps  was  lying  in  a  ditch  behind  a 
hedge,  and  under  the  fire  of  the  enemy,  whose  balls 
were  passing  over  them,  Froebel  turned  to  Midden- 
dorff, who  was  lying  behind  him,  and  asked  him  whether 
he  knew  how  many  seconds  faster  the  musket-balls 
moved  than  the  balls  from  the  flint  locks.  While  he 


314          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

was  in  immediate  danger  of  his  life,  Froebel  had  the 
coolness  to  solve  this  mathematical  problem. 

On  the  marches,  under  the  hottest  July  suns,  when 
most  of  the  men  in  the  corps  were  trying  to  get  rid  of 
everything  they  could  do  without,  to  make  their  knap- 
sacks lighter,  Froebel  collected  all  kinds  of  stones, 
herbs,  and  mosses  for  his  study  of  nature,  and  filled  his 
knapsack  with  them,  so  that  one  could  scarcely  lift  it, 
on  account  of  its  weight.  At  the  bivouac-fire  Froebel 
brought  out  his  treasures,  to  serve  as  the  subjects  of  con- 
versations on  natural  history.  Still  oftener  he  talked 
with  his  friends  of  his  "  idea,"  and  how  they  must  work 
together  for  it.  Already  in  this  time  of  youth  the  enthu- 
siasm for  a  better  education  of  men  arose  among  Froe- 
bel's  friends. 

MiddendorfF  was  an  example  of  the  rarest  devotion 
and  faithfulness  to  the  friend  whose  life-companion  he 
had  been  through  forty  years,  and  to  a  humane  idea, 
whose  discoverer  that  friend  was,  and  whose  humble 
shield-bearer  he  remained  after  his  friend's  death,  carry- 
ing on  the  work  he  had  left  behind,  even  to  his  last 
breath  of  life.  What  a  contrast  his  life  and  work  forms 
to  that  of  so  many  of  the  present  so-called  advocates  of 
the  cause,  who,  led  by  merely  personal  motives,  have  no 
conception  of  the  high  priestly  office  that  MiddendorfF 
filled  so  unassumingly,  and  with  so  much  humility. 

On  the  next  day  Middendorff  brought  me  again  a 
little  packet  of  letters,  which  contained  words  of  sympa- 
thy and  admiration  and  love,  in  remembrance  of  Froe- 
bel, from  distant  friends  and  scholars.  Extracts  from 
these  letters,  which  we  together  selected  as  we  read 
them,  were  contained  in  Middendorff 's  little  pamphlet, 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          315 

"Froebel's  Departure  from  Life."  Here  are  only  a  few 
aphoristic  passages  out  of  them,  which  all  express  the 
highest  recognition  of  Froebel. 

"  From  the  feeling  of  an  indescribable  sorrow  arises, 
like  a  flowery  island  out  of  a  stormy  sea,  the  great, 
blessed  conviction,  that  over  this  world  of  blooming  and 
decay,  over  flying  generations  and  sinking  ages,  there 
reigns  an  unattainable,  a  Divine  One.  A  personality 
which,  like  Froebel's,  is  rooted  in  the  soil  of  immortality, 
lives  for  all  times,  fairer,  nobler,  truer,  after  the  finite 
form  of  existence  has  been  stripped  off,  and  the  defects 
and  limitations  of  the  earthly  form  have  been  overcome. 
To  our  glorified  friend  too  will  the  words  of  our  national 
poet  apply,  that  what  life  has  only  half  given  to  the 
great,  after  ages  will  give  wholly  and  undividedly.  For 
the  misunderstanding  and  the  scorn  with  which  he  was 
rewarded  here,  for  the  pains  amidst  which  he  brought 
beauty  into  the  world,  for  the  homelessness  which  was 
his  lot  on  earth,  a  double  home  has  been  given  to  him 
through  death,  —  the  higher  world,  to  which  he  has  re- 
turned, and  a  home  in  the  fairest  and  best  hearts  of  his 
people.  His  childlike  countenance  will  beam  in  undis- 
turbed brightness  through  the  coming  ages,  his  image 
will  be  crowned  with  the  pure  hands  of  thankfulness,  in 
gratitude  for  his  giving  himself  as  a  sacrifice  to  his  peo» 
pie  and  his  spirit  to  the  common  welfare  of  all." 

"  The  way  which  he  has  gone  is  the  way  of  nature. 
Death  is  transformation,  the  beginning  of  new  life.  Froe- 
bel himself  called  it  'the  enlargement  of  life.1  Froebel's 
death  is  the  beginning  of  a  new  life  of  humanity ;  the 
dawn  which  opened  for  him  will  be  transformed  into  a 
day  which,  beginning  in  the  mothers  and  children,  will 


316          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

flow  out  through  them  over  all  the  earth.  Froebel  will 
live  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  upon  earth,  —  in  the  kin- 
dergarten, the  garden  of  God,  the  kingdom  of  peace 
and  bliss,  untroubled  childhood."  .  .  .  .  "  He  rests  not ; 
he  works  and  strives  still  among  the  many  in  whom  he 
has  awakened  and  fostered  a  striving  like  his  own." 

"The  more  I  think  over  his  life,  the  more  it  seems 
to  me  finished,  and  that,  as  such,  it  has  reached  its  com- 
pletion, Froebel,  too,  can  say,  '  It  is  finished.'  His 
life-thought  will  live  in  manifold  forms,  and  in  various 
shapes." 

A  scholar  wrote  :  "  How  Froebel  was  loved,  —  more 
than  any  one  I  ever  knew !  He  reaped  love  because  he 
sowed  love.  The  news  of  his  death  moved  me  as  deeply 
as  if  my  father  had  died  ;  and  was  not  Froebel  my  father, 
—  a  second,  a  spiritual  father,  who  awakened  in -me  my 
life-idea,  my  true  soul  ?  What  educational  science  has 
lost  in  Froebel  learned  men  will  have  told  you.  They 
know  that  with  him  a  new  era  in  it  begins,  —  that  he  has 
earned  for  himself  an  undying  name  in  the  history  of 
that  science.  But  we  know  that  his  work  cannot  perish. 
It  comes  from  too  great  a  depth  in  the  soul  of  man  ;  it 
answers  too  well  to  his  needs." 

Another  letter  :  "  How  I  thank  the  dear  God  that 
4ie  permitted  me  to  live  for  six  months  near  him ! 
Gladly  would  I  give  up  every  happiness  that  I  have  en- 
joyed, rather  than  the  residence  at  Marienthal.  Those 
hours  will  live  eternally  in  me.  I  regret  every  moment 

that  I  did  not  spend  with  him  when  I  could  do  so 

His  spirit  will  lead  me  to  work  in  harmony  with  his  idea. 
Every  thought  of  him  is  a  reminder  of  it." 

All  the  writers  of  these  letters  have  only  gratitude 


REMINISCENCES    OF    FROEBEL.  317 

and  love  for  their  departed  and  (in  their  hearts)  ever- 
living  teacher  and  friend.  Middendorff  said :  "  We 
will  raise  a  living  monument  to  him.  Let  each  of  us 
lay  our  hand  to  it,  work  in  his  place  as  we  can  ;  then 
will  the  power  of  the  whole  world  be  unable  to  prevent 
the  growth  and  blossoming  of  the  new  seed,  and,  even 
long  after  we  are  dead  our  thank-offering  will  shine  in 
the  world." 

When  I  went  to  Liebenstein  the  following  year  (1853), 
in  May,  the  Marienthal  institution  had  already  been 
removed  to  Keilhau  for  several  months.  Letters  from 
Middendorff  and  Madame  Froebel  spoke  of  a  good 
beginning,  and  gave  hope  of  a  successful  continuation  of 
the  training  institution  for  kindergartners. 

Diesterweg  and  Middendorff  came  in  the  second  half 
of  May  to  the  meeting  of  the  General  Convention  of 
German  Teachers.  The  latter  had  been  especially  in- 
vited, in  order  to  represent  the  kindergarten  question, 
which  was  placed  on  the  order  of  exercises. 

It  was  undeniable  that  in  this  convention  the  chief 
interest  was  too  much  directed  to  the  special  questions 
about  schools  and  instruction  to  admit  of  due  considera- 
tion being  given  to  the  age  preliminary  to  the  school, 
and  it  would  be  unreasonable  to  expect  anything  else 
from  teachers  in  general.  For  one  thing,  there  was  at 
that  time  such  abundant  material  presented  for  the  re- 
form of  school  affairs,  which  was  recognized  as  neces- 
sary, —  a  material  which  is  even  now  far  from  being 
worked  up,  —  and  Froebel's  educational  doctrine  and  its 
connection  with  the  school  was  so  little  known,  even  the 
importance  of  kindergartens  was  so  little  recognized,  and 
they  were  so  incompletely  carried  out,  that  it  was  con- 


318          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

ceivable  that  the  much-occupied  school-directors  should 
not  pay  much  attention  to  the  subject.  Instruction  lay 
near  their  hearts.  They  left  it  to  the  family  to  care 
for  the  first  education,  which  could  not  be  their  affair. 
This  was,  in  a  word,  the  opinion  of  the  great  majority. 
Only  a  small  number  (especially  in  consequence  of  Dies- 
terweg's,  Richard  Lange's,  and  afterwards  Carl  Schmidt's 
initiative  for  Froebel's  cause)  showed  a  lively  interest  in 
the  cause.  This  was  evident,  not  only  in  the  Salzung 
Teachers'  Convention,  but  also  in  those  which  followed 
later.  So  in  Kothen,  where  Carl  Schmidt  spoke  for  the 
cause  with  so  much  zeal  and  enthusiasm.  Here,  and 
likewise  in  Gera,  —  at  both  which  conventions  I  was 
present,  —  we  could  only  attract  a  small  house  for  our 
subject,  which  I  tried  to  help  along  by  some  remarks, 
together  with  some  practical  demonstrations,  in  a  small 
private  anteroom  after  the  public  address. 

But  however  much  interest  was  aroused  among  teach- 
ers from  time  to  time,  leisure  and  strength  to  devote  to 
the  necessary  studies  were  always  wanting  for  a  thor- 
ough knowledge  of  Froebel's  method,  over  and  above 
the  exacting  school-work. 

This  obstacle  still  continues  to  exist,  in  spite  of  the 
fact  that  the  immediate  connection  of  school  education 
with  family  education,  and  the  impossibility  of  being  able 
to  improve  the  one  without  the  other,  is  becoming  more 
evident  every  day. 

Surely  there  can  be  no  other  remedy  than  to  follow 
the  example  of  Austria,  which  has  introduced  Froebel's 
method  as  a  required  branch  of  instruction  in  the  semi- 
naries for  the  preparation  of  teachers.  As  children 
ought  to  lose  no  more  time,  and  should  be  provided 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  319 

before  the  school  with  the  preliminaries  for  it  and  for 
life,  so  must  the  teachers  be  taught  Froebel's  educational 
method  as  the  prerequisite  for  their  calling,  which  con- 
sists in  practising  it.  The  individuals  among  teachers 
who  have  learned  Froebel's  method  thoroughly  have  be- 
come thoroughly  convinced,  and  faithful,  devoted  follow- 
ers and  advocates  of  it.  This  oft-repeated  experience 
encourages  me  to  hope  that  the  time  will  come  when 
Froebel,  the  reformer  of  education,  will  find  a  place  in 
the  gospel  (Evangelium)  of  the  teachers  by  the  side  of 
Pestalozzi,  the  reformer  of  instruction. 

Some  members  of  the  Salzung  Convention  made  vari- 
ous objections  to  the  contents  of  the  report  made  by 
Dr.  Schulze  on  the  kindergarten,  and  to  the  views  ex- 
pressed by  Middendorff,  which  they  thought  too  general 
and  not  sufficiently  positive.  Middendorff  was  much 
excited  at  this,  and  with  great  liveliness  gave  a  detailed 
statement  of  the  nature,  the  aim,  and  the  success  of  the 
kindergarten,  its  connection  with  the  school,  and  its  in- 
fluence on  the  culture  of  the  national  character.  The 
deep  conviction  and  the  real  warmth  of  heart  with  which 
he  spoke  never  failed,  and  did  not  fail  now,  to  make  a 
great  impression ;  but,  nevertheless,  the  contents  of  his 
speech  were  only  understood  partially,  and  not  in  their 
whole  depth.  Most  of  the  auditors  were  unprepared  for 
Froebel's  theories  ;  and  Middendorff,  like  Froebel  before 
him,  was  too  little  acquainted  with  the  present  drift  of 
thought  among  teachers  —  with  the  watchwords  and  the 
prevailing  efforts  of  the  moment  —  to  be  able  to  strike 
the  right  tone,  —  to  find  an  echo,  apart  from  the  somewhat 
digressive  form  of  expression  customary  with  him,  which 
had  grown  upon  him  through  his  rural  retirement  and 
the  influence  of  Froebel. 


320  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

In  spite  of  much  concurrence  on  the  part  of  individu- 
als, the  Convention,  as  a  whole,  did  not  bring  the  success 
hoped  for,  as  far  as  the  kindergarten  cause  was  con- 
cerned ;  and  Middendorff  could  not  regain  his  natural 
cheerfulness.  We  mutually  expressed  the  conviction  that 
years  must  pass  before  the  school-directors  would  recog- 
nize Froebel's  work  in  its  whole  significance.  Diester- 
weg  also  said,  "It  does  not  go  so  fast  as  one  would 
like." 

In  July  I  met  Middendorff  and  Madame  Froebel  again 
in  Keilhau,  where,  during  my  stay  in  Blankenburg  in 
Thuringia,  I  often  visited  them.  In  the  small  band  of 
pupils  were  the  ladies  Thekla  Naveau  and  Leonore 
Heerwart,  who  were  afterwards  active  for  the  cause. 
All  the  young  ladies  were  inspired  with  the  greatest 
zeal,  and  clung  with  devoted  love  to  Middendorff  and 
Madame  Froebel,  who,  on  their  part,  devoted  their  whole 
powers  to  do  the  unfinished  work  of  Froebel. 

Here,  on  the  scene  of  Froebel's  first  activity,  one  could 
reflect  upon  the  life  that  once  held  sway  here,  and  must 
concur  with  Froebel  that  it  would  not  be  easy  to  find  a 
more  lovely  and  home-like  place  than  Keilhau  in  which 
to  bring  up  youth  to  the  duty  of  life,  in  undisturbed  rural 
quiet. 

But  now  one  saw,  instead  of  Froebel's  little  farm-house 
where  he  and  his  pupils  had  to  struggle  at  first  with  the 
greatest  privations,  several  stately  buildings  which  en- 
closed a  large  courtyard,  surrounded  by  the  steep  moun- 
tains and  beautiful  woods  of  the  rather  narrow  valley. 
There  were  beautiful,  spacious  apartments  and  school- 
rooms, and  a  large  hall  in  the  main  building.  Exem- 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          321 

plary  order  and  care  for  the  bodily  and  mental  needs  of 
the  pupils  were  evident.  The  watchful  guidance,  the 
sharp  practical  oversight,  and  the  somewhat  strict  dis- 
cipline, but  at  the  same  time  loving  care,  of  the  director, 
Barop,  were  everywhere  apparent. 

Barop  received  me  with  great  friendliness,  and  told  me 
many  interesting  'particulars  of  Keilhau  and  Froebel's 
earlier  activity  here.  Also,  the  former  variances  which 
had  arisen  from  Froebel's  disregard  of  the  material  and 
practical  conditions  of  life  had  disappeared,  and  had 
given  place  to  a  profound  recognition  of  his  idea,  and 
the  importance  of  its  fulfilment.  Barop's  communica- 
tion made  many  things  very  clear  to  me  which  had  not 
been  entirely  intelligible  before,  and  led  me  to  realize 
again  how  severely  genius  has  to  battle  and  to  suffer  be- 
fore it  can  fulfil  its  mission  and  gain  its  just  appreciation. 
Barop's  character  of  firm,  incorruptible  honesty,  and  of 
an  energy  so  rare,  inspired  me  with  great  respect. 

This  co-operation  of  the  united  families  of  Midden- 
dorff,  Barop,  and  Christian  Froebel  for  one  aim  made  a 
great  impression  upon  the  observer ;  and  as  regards  un- 
selfishness, self-sacrifice,  and  courage,  might  rarely  find 
its  equal.  The  activity  of  each  individual  bore  the  stamp 
of  scrupulous  sense  of  duty,  and  at  the  same  time  of  the 
most  entire  absence  of  pretension.  Each  one  was  ready 
to  give  help  in  everything,  even  outside  of  the  circle  of 
work  personally  assigned  him.  The  old  Christian  Froe- 
bel, our  Froebel's  eldest  brother,  I  found  in  the  wash- 
room occupied  in  mangling  linen,  his  weak  eyes  prevent- 
ing him  from  taking  part  in  many  kinds  of  work. 

Heinrich  Langethal,  Froebel's  war  comrade,  and  his 
true  co-worker  in  the  foundation  and  the  earlier  direction 


322  REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

of  Keilhau,  had  not  at  that  time  returned  to  Keilhau,  so 
that  I  was  unable,  to  my  great  disappointment,  to  make 
his  personal  acquaintance.  Later  we  came  into  relation 
with  each  other  by  correspondence.  At  the  present  time 
this  blind  old  man,  almost  ninety  years  old,  is  occupied 
in  teaching  at  Keilhau,  having  been  carried  back  there 
by  the  never  lost  memory  of  the  time  when  he  with  Froe- 
bel  and  Middendorff  had  striven  and  labored  here  for  the 
new  education  amidst  the  greatest  privations  and  con- 
flicts,* a  new  proof  that  it  is  striving,  laboring,  and  cre- 
ating, and  not  the  passing  enjoyment  of  the  moment,  that 
sanctifies  the  places  of  men's  abode  to  grateful  remem- 
brance. Like  the  men  of  this  circle,  the  women  in  it 
were  unceasingly  active,  without  looking  to  the  right  or 
to  the  left,  living  only  for  an  unselfish,  faithful  fulfilment 
of  duty.  The  wives  of  Barop  and  Middendorff,  two 
sisters,  and  daughters  of  the  brother  of  our  Froebel,  set 
the  example  of  this.  From  the  first  moment,  one  felt  at 
home  in  this  circle,  and  at  the  sight  of  the  simple  and 
unassuming  life  of  the  sprightly,  unfettered  pupils  who 
did  not  feel  repressed  here  as  in  so  many  of  our  educa- 
tional institutions.  And  in  this  instruction  also,  as  far  as 
was  possible,  Froebel's  principle  of  self-activity  was  ob- 
served, that  is,  of  keeping  the  pupils  as  active  as  possible 
by  independent  thinking,  while  the  teachers  were,  on  the 
contrary,  more  passive. 

One  forenoon  a  troop  of  young  boys  came  from  out- 
side, marching  into  the  courtyard  with  botanical  boxes, 
and  with  bunches  of  flowers  and  grasses  in  their  hands. 
To  .my  question  where  had  they  been,  the  answer  was, 
"  On  a  voyage  of  discovery ; "  —  so  they  named  their  ex- 

*  See  further  in  Hanschmann's  "  FT.  Froebel." 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          323 

cursion  in  the  neighborhood,  which  they  usually  began  at 
sunrise,  and  on  which  they  botanized  and  collected  all 
sorts  of  natural  objects,  that  were  then  explained  and 
elucidated  by  Middendorff  in  the  lesson  in  natural  sci- 
ence. There  were  among  these,  with  other  stones,  some 
slates  with  impressions  of  antediluvian  animals,  in  which 
the  region  was  rich. 

The  day  was  fair ;  we  went  into  the  garden  ;  the  col- 
lected treasures  were  displayed,  and  then  the  instruc- 
tion began  by  answers  to  the  very  pertinent  questions 
asked  by  the  scholars.  Then  followed  the  connection 
with  the  subject  of  the  previous  lesson. 

In  this  way  the  instruction  in  all  the  branches,  at  least 
for  the  lower  stages,  was  directed  to  giving  greater  self- 
activity  to  the  scholars.  As  with  the  body,  only  that 
nourishment  is  of  any  use  which  hunger  demands,  and 
which  can  be  digested  without  overloading  the  stomach, 
so  with  the  mind,  no  more  information  should  be  given 
than  it  has  strength  to  receive  without  strain  and  really  to 
assimilate.  How  many  of  the  children  of  our  schools, 
especially  of  the  higher  ones,  can  do  this  ? 

Froebel's  principle  that  experience  (empirics)  must 
keep  pace  with  knowledge  in  children  and  youth,  is  surely 
the  only  correct  one,  and  the  only  means  of  bringing 
about  the  actual  necessary  school  reform. 

Experiences  in  the  domain  of  practical  life  can  only 
be  gained  by  a  life  of  action,  and  it  is  indispensable  that 
for  this  purpose  the  school  should  give  the  necessary  time 
to  practical  work  and  to  experiments  on  the  plane  of 
actuality.  To  solve  this  problem  without  neglecting  the 
necessary  acquirement  of  knowledge  is  the  most  impor- 
tant task  of  the  school  in  our  time. 


324          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

Even  in  Keilhau  this  was  not  attained  for  a  long  time. 
The  beginnings,  which  were  made  there  under  the  earlier 
direction  of  Froebel,  for  combining  the  elements  of  work, 
that  is,  of  productive  work  with  learning,  were  too  one- 
sided to  last.  The  relations  of  life  into  which  the 
majority  of  the  pupils  were  to  enter,  the  examinations 
required  for  their  obtaining  situations,  the  thousand  pre- 
judices which  oppose  all  innovations,  had  always  com- 
pelled the  Keilhau  institution  to  take  into  account  the 
life  of  actuality,  and  had  made  it  impossible  to  disre- 
gard the  complaints  of  the  parents  of  its  pupils,  who 
were  unwilling  to  have  the  proper,  customary  school- 
learning  shortened  and  supplanted  in  any  way  by  prac- 
tical work  whose  importance  for  the  purely  educational 
side  of  culture  was  incomprehensible  to  them. 

But  although  the  garden-work,  for  which  each  scholar 
had  a  piece  of  garden-land  assigned  to  him,  was  kept  up, 
and  some  workshops  were  used  by  the  pupils  out  of  school- 
hours,  yet  Froebel's  plan  and  arrangement  for  the  earlier 
direction  of  the  educational  institution  could  not  be  fully 
preserved.  As  Barop  very  truly  said  :  "  We  are  not  so 
far  advanced  that  the  scholar  and  the  state  official  should 
have  time  and  skill  for  garden-work,  or  should  possess 
manual  dexterity  and  practise  such  occupations.  So 
long  as  life  does  not  use  these  things  and  cannot  make 
them  serviceable,  their  educational  use  will  not  be  recog- 
nized. We  can  only  advance  very  gradually  on  the  way 
to  reform  mapped  out  by  Froebel ;  we  must  keep  pace 
with  the  slowly  advancing  reform  in  social  affairs  in  gen- 
eral, and  with  the  overthrow  of  prescriptive  prejudices. 
We  can  only  educate  for  the  immediate  present.  That 
is  the  reason  why  here  in  Keilhau  we  have  been  obliged 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          325 

to  give  up  many  things  which  can  certainly  be  taken  up 
again  at  some  later  time." 

"  And  it  must  not  be  forgotten,"  I  added,  "  that  the 
reform  aimed  at  by  Froebel  is  in  its  whole  extent  entirely 
impossible  so  long  as  children  shall  not  go  from  the  kin- 
dergarten into  the  elementary  school  reformed  and  modi- 
fied according  to  his  principles.  Without  the  preparation 
for  productive  activity, — which  is  also  a  gymnastic  of  the 
mental  powers, — gained  in  the  former,  it  is  surely  impos- 
sible to  combine  practical  work  with  the  literary  school 
to  the  extent  that  Froebel  intended  to  do.  But  agricul- 
ture might  be  added  to  various  bodily  exercises,  like  gym- 
nastics, etc.,  for  the  sake  of  physical  health.  A  counter- 
poise must  be  given  throughout  to  the  excess  of  mental 
exertion." 

"  You  see  here,"  said  Barop,  as  we  were  looking  at  the 
garden  of  his  pupils,  "  that  full  opportunity  for  that  is 
furnished  to  our  boys." 

These  little  gardens  were  situated  on  the  slope  of  the 
hill  behind  the  family  garden,  and  offered  a  variegated 
patchwork  of  plan  and  decoration  according  to  the  fancy 
of  their  young  owners.  There  one  saw  stones  piled  upon 
each  other  to  represent  a  druidical  altar,  meadows  for 
clay  cows  and  sheep,  shrubs  cut  into  fantastic  forms, 
imitations  of  mountain  chains  and  river  valleys  modelled 
in  clay,  canals  and  ponds  with  fishes  and  frogs  and  little 
wooden  canoes,  etc. 

Beyond  this  was  a  long  avenue  of  cherry-trees  which 
had  been  planted  by  the  first  pupils  of  the  institution,  as 
at  that  time  the  raising  of  fruit  was  especially  attended  to. 

On  one  of  their  playgrounds  the  pupils  had  built  a 
complete  mock  Robinson  Crusoe's  establishment.  Rob- 


326  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

inson's  hut  with  all  kinds  of  implements,  his  castle  which 
used  to  be  stormed  in  play-time,  defended  from  within  by 
a  small  band  of  boys,  his  canoe  made  out  of  a  trunk  of 
a  tree,  etc.,  were  represented. 

Sometimes  they  asked  permission  to  bivouac  in  this 
place  on  summer  nights ;  then  a  fire  was  built,  they  en- 
camped around  it,  and  cooked  coffee  and  potatoes.  On 
the  steep  hill  they  exercised  themselves  in  climbing,  and 
with  the  sweat  of  their  brows  brought  down,  by  the  help 
of  home-made  machines,  —  coltstaffs,  sliding  rollers,  etc., 
—  heavy  blocks  of  stone,  wood,  and  other  things  for  use 
in  the  gardens. 

Such  play-work  is  well  suited  to  strengthen  the  body, 
to  give  dexterity  in  many  practical  operations,  and  serve 
as  a  counterpoise  to  the  abstract  studies.  To  these  are 
to  be  added  the  usual  short  pedestrian  tours  in  Keilhau 
which,  with  the  older  scholars,  became  journeys,  and  in 
which,  through  suitable  instruction  from  the  teachers  who 
accompanied  them,  much  knowledge  of  all  kinds  is  ac- 
quired, and  they  are  made  acquainted  with  actual  life.* 

How  happy  youth  were  made  by  such  excursions  I 
observed  personally,  when  two  years  earlier  MiddendorfF 
and  one  of  the  Keilhau  teachers  came  with  a  little  band 
on  a  foot-tour  through  the  Thuringian  forest  to  Lieben- 
stein.  The  gay  singing  and  frolicking  troop  of  boys  de- 
lighted every  one  who  saw  them.  Quartered  and  enter- 
tained in  the  upper  story  of  our  kindergarten  house  in 
Liebenstein,  I  had  an  opportunity  to  observe  their  merry 
and  yet  not  extravagant  impulses. 

But  much  as  is  done  in  many  directions  to  lighten  the 
strain  of  school-time,  and  to  make  it  less  injurious  to  the 

*  See  school  and  youth  gardens  in  my  work,  "  Education  by  Work." 


REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL.  327 

body,  it  is  far  from  sufficient,  and  very  much  must  be 
added  in  order  completely  to  reach  the  desired  end. 

The  school-gardens  instituted  in  Austria  under  the  pro- 
tection of  the  government,  and  furthered  with  unceasing 
pains  by  Professor  Erasmus  Schwab,  are  worthy  of  all 
praise  as  the  beginning  of  a  more  practical  and  natural 
education  of  youth  ;  and  form,  moreover,  a  continuation 
of  the  Froebelian  kindergartens. 

Not  only  the  education  of  boys  needs  such  supple- 
menting by  means  of  practical  working  exercises,  that  of 
girls  needs  it  in  other  respects  even  more,  that  young  girls 
of  all  conditions  may  not  enter  so  unprepared  upon  real 
life  after  the  school  years.  This  may  apply  to  marriage, 
or  to  some  special  calling.  Besides  the  preparation  for 
household  duties  and  the  needs  of  every-day  life,  the 
necessary  preparation  for  the  future  educational  calling 
is  especially  to  be  provided  for  ;  and  Froebel's  kindergar- 
ten, with  its  plays  and  occupations,  and  his  theoretical 
educational  doctrine  furnish  the  necessary  means  for  this. 

As  Middendorff,  as  usual,  was  accompanying  me  a  part 
of  the  way  back  to  Blankenburg,  over  the  Steiger,  — 
a  mountain  of  considerable  height  lying  between  the 
two  places,  —  the  languor  of  his  appearance  frequently 
struck  me.  Evidently  the  double  instruction  in  the  train- 
ing-school wore  upon  him.  Madame  Froebel  also  thought 
he  exerted  himself  too  much.  Sometimes  he  had  severe 
headaches,  from  which  he  suffered  more  and  more,  and 
was  prevented  from  giving  the  theoretical  instruction  to 
the  female  pupils.  It  gave  me  pleasure  to  take  his  place 
sometimes  when  this  was  the  case.  I  had  already  had 
practice  in  it  in  the  circle  of  young  girls  and  ladies  who 
had  attended  my  lectures  in  Berlin. 


328          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

On  such  an  occasion,  Middendorff  once  said  :  "  You 
must  take  my  place  in  the  instruction,  Frau  von  Maren- 
holz,  if  I  leave  the  world."* 

That  was  the  first  time  that  the  thought  occurred  to  me 
that  our  cause  might  soon  lose  him. 

He  expressed  special  pleasure  when  I  gave  him  a  little 
pamphlet,  "The  First  Education  of  Mothers,  according 
to  Froebel's  Method,"  which  I  had  written  and  printed  in 
the  previous  winter;  and  it  was  the  first  one  written  on 
the  subject,  with  the  exception  of  smaller  essays  and 
newspaper  articles. 

"  I  am  very  much  pleased  that  we  have  this  now,"  he 
said,  as  he  held  it  in  his  hand,  "and  I  have  found  a 
thought  in  it  whose  expression  has  a  special  value  in  my 
eyes.  It  is  this  :  '  that  the  experience  of  nature  and  the 
material  world  must  always  give  additional  confirmation 
to  the  knowledge  and  revelation  of  spiritual  things.'  For 
that  is  an  undoubted  truth  which  was  fully  understood  by 
Froebel.  In  this  way  mankind  must  build  the  bridge 
between  these  two  contrasts  in  their  own  nature,  and  our 
education  will  prepare  minds  in  childhood  'to  feel  them- 
selves at  one  with  everything  in  the  great  world  of  space,' 
as  Froebel  says  in  his  '  Mother  and  Cosset  Songs.' " 

"  I  had  so  many  questions  especially  in  reference  to 
this  to  ask  Froebel,"  I  said,  "  which  must  now  be  unan- 
swered. As  we  were  once  speaking  of  the  future  life,  he 
said,  *  That  is  a  mere  phrase,  and  a  theory  which  rests 
upon  appearances.  Just  as  we  now  know  that  the  sun 
only  apparently  goes  round  our  earth,  and  that  the  con- 
verse is  true,  so  we  shall  know  at  some  time  that  the 
present  life  (Diessdts)  and  the  other  life  (Jenseits)  lie  in 
the  same  universe  ( Weltraum\  in  which  there  is  no  real 


REMINISCENCES    OF    FROEBEL.          .  329 

separation,  and  in  which  everywhere  there  exists  the 
closest,  most  unbroken  connection.  Think  of  ray  words : 
Separation  is  only  for  union  there.  The  sun  sheds  light 
and  warmth  on  all  that  lives  upon  the  earth,  and  not  only 
upon  the  earth,  but  also  upon  the  other  planets  that  be- 
long to  our  system,  and  there  too  its  beams  awaken  and 
preserve  life.  It  is  the  centre  of  the  great  organism  to 
which  we  belong.' " 

"Yes,"  answered  Middendorff,  "Froebel  often  spoke 
of  this  linking  together  (Gliederung)  which  binds  all  that 
exists.  He  had  a  very  peculiar  love  for  the  sun,  and  he 
unwillingly  missed  seeing  it  set,  here  at  this  place  as  well 
as  on  the  hill  behind  the  Marienthal  house." 

It  occurred  to  me,  after  Middendorff's  death,  how 
often  during  my  last  visits  to  Keilhau  he  recurred  to  the 
continuance  of  life  after  death.  He  probably  felt  the 
diminution  of  his  strength,  which  undoubtedly  suffered 
from  over-exertion. 

On  the  evening  of  the  above-mentioned  conversation 
we  had  entered  so  deeply  into  it  that  I  could  scarcely 
accomplish  my  return  over  the  mountain  on  the  steep 
slope  without  danger.  Since  the  shorter  way  over  the 
Steiger  was  only  passable  on  foot  or  on  a  donkey,  I 
availed  myself  of  the  latter  method  and  rode,  accom- 
panied by  a  boy  as  driver.  The  moon  set  early  on  that 
evening,  and  it  was  necessary  to  make  haste  in  order  to 
arrive  at  Blankenburg  before  night.  In  spite  of  all  the 
urging  of  the  youth,  his  donkey  would  not  go,  and  a 
closer  examination  resulted  in  the  unpleasant  discovery 
that  the  poor  beast  had  lost  two  shoes,  and  every  step 
on  the  stony  ground  was  painful.  Nothing  remained  to 
be  done,  under  these  circumstances,  but  to  dismount  and 


330  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

go  on  foot,  and  the  driver  led  the  animal  by  the  bridle. 
Thus  we  arrived  about  the  middle  of  the  night  at  Blan- 
kenburg,  whose  scattered  lights  were  our  guides  in  the 
darkness,  in  connection  with  the  instinct  of  the  donkey, 
who  always  objected  when  we  were  about  to  take  a  wrong 
direction. 

In  the  little  city  of  Blankenburg,  where  Froebel  had 
founded  his  first  kindergarten,  and  as  often  as  it  had 
perished  for  want  pf  support  had  founded  it  anew,  I 
found  the  interest  somewhat  cold,  although  such  an  in- 
stitution existed  there.  Froebel's  and  Middendorff's 
names,  however,  excited  a  lively  interest  in  most  of  the 
people,  and  they  usually  accompanied  the  mention  of 
them  with  the  expression,  "  A  dear  man,  Herr  Froebel ! 
How  zealously  and  painfully  he  worked  here  ! "  And  they 
said  of  Middendorff,  "  When  Herr  Middendorff  plays 
with  the  children,  it  is  a  pleasure  to  look  at  them,"  etc. 
There  seemed  to  be  no  trace  of  a  deep  understanding  of 
the  subject  among  the  cultivated  people,  so  far  as  I  had 
an  opportunity  of  investigating.  So  it  always  is  with 
genius  and  with  those  who  scatter  blessings.  They  are 
not  understood,  and  must  begin  their  work  without  help 
and  without  recognition,  and  be  contented  if  they  escape 
scorn  and  mockery,  or  even  persecution. 

The  last  subject  which  I  talked  of  with  Middendorff 
in  Keilhau  was  the  foundation  of  educational  unions, 
and  the  spread  of  kindergartens  in  foreign  countries. 
There  were  great  difficulties  still  in  the  way  of  both  of 
these  objects,  but  I  promised  to  do  what  I  could,  and,  as 
soon  as  my  circumstances  would  permit,  to  make  an  at- 
tempt to  introduce  kindergartens  into  foreign  countries. 
This  plan  was  carried  out  in  the  fall  of  the  next  year, 


REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL.          331 

through  a  stay  in  London,  of  which  I  have  given  an 
account,  together  with  that  of  attempts  in  other  coun- 
tries, in  my  "  Education  by  Work." 

In  the  end  of  November  of  this  year  I  received,  in  Ber- 
lin, the  entirely  unexpected  news  of  Middendorffs  death 
on  the  26th  of  that  month!  A  brain  stroke  —  caused, 
the  physician  thought,  by  an  abscess  in  the  head — had, 
without  any  previous  sickness,  put  an  end  to  his  life. 
He  carried  on  until  the  last  moment  the  work  he  had 
undertaken  for  Froebel's  cause,  without  sparing  his  body, 
in  addition  to  his  occupation  of  teaching  in  the  Keilhau 
institution.  He  did  all  that  this  duty  he  had  undertaken 
required  with  so  much  joyfulness  and  pleasure,  that  no 
one  perceived  the  strain  which  it  cost  him  physically. 

His  end,  like  Froebel's,  was  a  happy  one,  but  without 
his  being  conscious  of  it,  while  Froebel  met  death  with 
full  knowledge  a'nd  with  calmaess.  Like  him,  Midden- 
dorff  enjoyed,  a  little  while  before,  a  natural  spectacle. 
The  day  before  his  death  the  first  snow  fell,  and  he  ex- 
pressed again  and  again  his  pleasure  at  watching  the 
whirling  flakes. 

But  the  kindergarten  training-institution  was  now  with- 
out a  head.  In  Keilhau  there  was  no  one  who  could 
undertake  its  direction.  Madame  Froebel  wrote  with 
great  sorrow  of  being  obliged  again  to  give  up  the  plan 
made  with  labor  and  pains.  She  had  lost  in  Middendorff 
a  firm  support  and  a  true  friend  and  protector,  and  saw 
that  she  could  not  remain  in  Keilhau  without  him.  She 
therefore  accepted  the  invitation  of  school-director  Mar- 
quard,  of  Dresden,  to  carry  on  with  him  and  his  wife  the 
training  of  kindergartners  in  a  school  institution  con- 


332  REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

nected  with  a  kindergarten.  But  this  arrangement  was 
not  a  lasting  one.  In  the  following  year  Madame  Froe- 
bel  went  to  Hamburg  to  continue  her  activity  for  the 
cause  there  permanently  in  connection  with  the  Union. 

As  it  is  usually  the  case  that  only  after  the  death  of 
those  who  have  brought  anything  important  into  the 
world,  their  efforts  attain  great  success,  so  it  is  with  the 
kindergartens,  which  have  continued  to  spread  since 
Froebel's  death ;  a  result,  however,  which  has  not  been 
reached  without  great  toil  and  struggle.  The  beginning 
of  my  activity  also  for  the  cause,  now  twenty-seven  years 
ago,  was  connected  with  many  difficulties,  and  immediate 
results  were  often  transitory.  Within  the  last  twelve 
years  kindergartens  have  been  more  and  more  recognized, 
and  will  now  undoubtedly  be  accepted  in  all  civilized 
countries. 

At  the  same  time  the  .complete  carrying  out  of  Froe- 
bel's educational  idea  is  far  from  being  assured.  Until 
the  continuation  of  the  kindergarten  into  and  by  the  side 
of  the  school  (school  and  youth  gardens)  shall  have  been 
generally  accepted,  until  the  preliminary  steps  to  the 
kindergarten  itself  have  been  realized  in  the  family  cir- 
cle through  mothers  and  governesses  educated  according 
to  Froebel's  method,  and  especially  until  all  this  is  done 
in  a  really  methodical  way,  instead  of  in  a  wooden  way 
and  mechanically,  the  educational  reform  prepared  for 
by  Froebel's  method  cannot  reach  its  full  completion. 

One  may  say  that  Froebel  has  found  the  point  of  Ar- 
chimedes for  the  new  education,  the  new  beginning  which 
promises  a  new  result.  His  idea  could  be  understood 
only  imperfectly  by  his  contemporaries,  and  by  only  a 


REMINISCENCES    OF   FROEBEL.  333 

few,  because  this  idea  belongs  to  the  new  theory  of  the 
world  which  time  is  preparing,  and  can  only  show  its 
whole  fruitfulness  when  this  theory,  cleared  of  error  and 
misconception,  shall  have  become  completely  naturalized 
among  the  cultivated. 

The  Unions,  which  in  these  days  undertake  all  im- 
provements in  society,  should  especially  undertake  the 
advancement  of  this  cause,  and  the  chief  share  in  its 
practical  carrying  out  falls  to  women. 

The  "  General  Educational  Union  "  has  been  formed 
through  my  exertions  as  a  point  of  departure  for  these 
efforts ;  it  can  already  show  a  favorable  beginning,  and 
desires  aid  from  all  those  who  recognize  an  improved 
education  of  man  as  one  of  the  first  requisites  for  im- 
proved conditions  in  human  society. 


APPENDIX. 


SHORT  SKETCH  OF    THE   LIFE   OF  FRIED- 
RICH   FROEBEL. 

BY    EMILY    SHIRREFF. 

Read  at  the  Monthly  Meeting  of  the  London  Froebel  Society, 
Jane,  1876. 

1ITHENEVER  we  have  learned  to  take  interest  in  a  man's 
'  '  opinions,  or  his  public  action  and  influence,  we  natu- 
rally desire  to  know  more  about  his  life,  —  to  see  what  cir- 
cumstances went  to  form  his  character,  what  peculiar  impulses 
or  purposes  shaped  his  destiny;  and  thus  we  may  conclude 
that  members  of  a  Froebel  Society,  persons  associated  to  aid 
in  carrying  into  effect  the  views  of  this  man  Froebel  on  a 
subject  of  the  highest  importance,  must  be  interested  in 
tracing  out  the  history  of  his  life.  That  history  is  so 
closely  connected  with  his  opinions,  that  a  fervent  disciple 
of  his,  Alexander  Hanschmann,  felt  he  could  not  so  well 
analyze  his  theory  in  any  other  way  as  by  analyzing  his 
life,  —  looking  back  to  all  the  circumstances  which  helped 
to  make  him  what  he  was,  and  step  by  step  prompted  or 
facilitated  the  growth  and  gradual  unfolding  of  his  educa- 
tional theory.  -, 
Friedrich  Froebel  was  born  in  1782  in  the  village  of  < 
Oberweisbach'in  Thuringia.  His  father,  the  minister  of  ' 
the  parish,  was  a  man  gifted  with  those  qualities  which  win 
the  love  and  respect  of  children,  even  when,  as  in  the  case 


336  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

of  our  hero,  he  had  experienced  from  him  scant  justice  and 
less  tenderness.  Friedrich  lost  his  mother  before  he  was 
a  year  old,  but  although  he  had  never  known  her  influence, 
he  believed  himself  to  have  inherited  from  her  his  imagina- 
tive and  artistic  spirit.  His  father  married  again,  and  the 
second  wife  proved  a  real  step-mother  to  the  poor  child 
who  was  thrown  so  peculiarly  on  her  care.  Under  this 
hard  woman's  rule  little  Friedrich  was  neglected,  and  often 
unkindly  treated,  until,  when  he  was  ten  years  old,  his 
mother's  brother  took  compassion  on  him,  and  obtained 
leave  to  take  him  under  his  own  care.  This  uncle,  who 
occupied  a  post  of  some  dignity  in  the  Church  at  Stadt- 
llm,  was  a  widower,  who  had  lost  his  only  son,  and  was 
glad  to  find  an  object  of  affection  in  his  sister's  child. 
Under  his  roof,  amid  plenty  and  kindness,  Friedrich  throve 
and  prospered  for  five  happy  years  ;  went  to  the  high  school 
in  the  town,  and  enjoyed  for  the  first  time  the  healthy 
delight  of  companionship  with  others  of  his  own  age.  In 
this  new  life  his  whole  nature  expanded ;  he  remained  deli- 
cate and  was  somewhat  dreamy,  but  he  looked  back  to  this 
period  in  after  years  as  to  one  of  great  enjoyment.  He 
showed  no  great  aptitude  at  school  except  for  arithmetic ; 
but  he  began  to  be  —  what  he  never  ceased  being  while  he 
lived  —  an  observer  of  nature ;  and  in  his  great  delight  in 
watching  plants  and  animals,  as  well  as  in  his  appreciation 
of  companionship,  we  find  the  source  of  two  of  his  strong 
opinions  respecting  the  education  of  children.  *  It  is  to  his 
own  retrospective  account  of  his  early  life,  given  in  later 
years  to  his  brother  Christopher,  and  on  another  occasion 
to  a  friend,  that  we  owe  these  particulars,  and  are  able  to 
trace  how  early  his  mind  received  the  impression  which 
influenced  him  so  strongly,  of  the  analogy  of  the  human 
being  to  the  other  organisms  existing  in  the  world,  and  the 
consequent  belief  that  he  should  grow  and  develop  har- 
moniously and  completely  as  they  do. 
[We  are  here  tempted  to  interpolate  some  of  these  par- 


APPENDIX.  337 

ticulars  of  his  childish  experience  which  Mrs.  Shirreff  has 
omitted. 

X  Before  he  was  four  years  old  (when  his  father  was  married 
again),  he  lived  in  a  house  which  was  so  built  that  it  was 
under  the  shadow  of  a  church,  and  no  sunbeam  could  enter 
it,  and  was  kept  indoors  by  the  single  housemaid  who  was 
too  busy  to  see  to  him  otherwise.  His  great  amusement  at 
one  time  was  to  watch  some  workmen  from  a  window,  as 
they  were  repairing  the  church,  and  his  impulse  was  to  use 
what  pieces  of  furniture  or  other  objects  he  could  move  to 
imitate  them  in  their  building,  but  he  was  baffled  by  their 
unsuitableness. 

It  was  the  recollection  of  this  ungratified  building  instinct 
which  suggested  to  him  in  later  years  that  children  ought  to 
be  provided  with  materials  for  building  among  their  playthings. 
To  this  recollection  was  probably  added  the  observation 
which  every  one  must  make  who  sees  much  of  children,  that 
they  all  have  the  building  instinct,  and  that  "to  make  a 
house "  is  a  universal  form  of  unguided  play,  if  it  is  only 
with  chairs  and  tables  or  whatever  is  at  hand.  V 

Later  in --life  the  child  was  often  taken  by  his  father  when 
the  latter  went  the  rounds  of  his  parochial  visiting  among 
the  peasants,  in  order  to  relieve  the  step-mother  of  the  care 
of  him.  When  one  of  his  brothers,  coming  home  in  a  vaca- 
tion, and  much  compassionating  the  neglected  child,  won  his 
confidence  by  fondling  him,  little  Friedrich  asked  him  why  it 
was  that  God  did  not  make  all  the  people  men,  or  all  women, 
so  that  there  should  be  no  quarrelling.  To  divert  his  young 
mind  from  the  problem  of  human  discord,  his  brother  under- 
took to  amuse  him  by  showing  him  the  processes  of  vegeta- 
tion,—  the  compensating  nature  of  imperfections  in  male  and 
female  flowers,  and  how,  through  the  principle  of  growth, 
harmonies  of  beauty  and  use  were  born  out  of  the/connec- 
tion  of  opposites.x  Friedrich  says,  in  adverting  to  this,  that 
it  was  the  beginning  of  all  satisfactory  thought,  —  indeed,  it 
was  ecstasy ;  but  his  mind  still  secretly  revolved  the  ques- 


338  REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL. 

tion  respecting  the  discords  of  humanity,  and  the  first  solu- 
tion of  that  problem  he  gained  when  he  was  put  to  school  by 
his  uncle  Hoffman  after  he  was  ten  years  old.  The  first  day 
of  the  school  the  master  gave  a  familiar,  practical  sermon 
upon  the  text,  "  Seek  first  the  kingdom  of  heaven  and  its 
righteousness,  and  all  things  shall  be  added  to  you."  This 
was  a  flash  of  light  to  him,  and  from  that  time  he  never  lost 
the  clew  of  the  law  that  was  to  bring  to  mankind  the  happi- 
ness of  harmony,  symbolized  by  the  harmonies  and  beauty 
of  plants.  The  world  of  vegetation  was  the  instructor  he 
recognized  as  superior  to  all  others.  This  department  of 
nature  was  his  normal  school ;  it  dominates  his  phraseology 
through  life. 

In  one  of  his  letters  he  mentions  that  in  the  year  when 
Louis  XVI.  was  beheaded  there  was  a  rumor  among  the 
peasants  of  Thuringia  that  the  world  was  coming  to  an  end. 
He  says  he  could  not  share  the  panic,  he  did  not  believe  it, 
for  it  was  plain  to  him  that  the  will  of  God  had  not  yet  been 
brought  about.  What  a  reflection  for  a  child  of  eleven  years ! 
It  foreshadowed  the  mind  that  seemed  never  to  forget  the 
past  nor  the  future  in  its  sensibility  to  the  present,  but  com- 
prehended eternity  so  far  as  to  feel  that  the  very  present  God 
was  at  once  the  Ancient  of  Days  and  the  Redeemer  of  the 
future. 

This  was  the  child-mind  of  the  man  who  in  his  maturity 
refused  to  take  charge  of  the  education  of  the  Duke  of  Mei- 
ningen's  son  when  it  was  proffered  to  him  with  its  emolu- 
ments, because,  as  he  explained  to  the  Duke,  "  it  was 
impossible  to  give  a  sound  intellectual  education  to  a  child 
who  had  not  a  true  moral  development,  and  that  it  was  im- 
possible for  a  child  to  receive  that  who  was  separated  from 
equals  and  led  to  imagine  himself  as  having  a  superior 
nature." 

This  self-abnegating  action  of  Froebel,  in  the  midst  of  his 
poverty,  induced  the  Duke  to  send  his  son  to  a  public  gym- 
nasium, as  Froebel  advised. 


APPENDIX.  339 

The  world  will  never  have  Froebel's  true  kindergarten 
until  the  teachers  of  little  children  are  as  disinterested  and 
as  reverent  of  their  office  as  was  its  founder.] 

Froebel  in  many  ways  may  be  called  self-educated,  for  his 
school-teaching  was  most  superficial ;  and  his  aims,  and  the 
view  he  took  of  what  knowledge  was  essential  for  attaining 
them,  were  entirely  original.  Unconscious  as  yet  of  his 
inborn  power  as  an  educator,  he  exercised  it  on  himself,  and 
felt  continually  the  failure  of  all  instruction  he  received  by 
its  want  of  completeness,  its  absence  of  harmony  with  the 
outward  workings  of  nature,  its  inferiority  to  the  ideal  he 
had  formed.  He  early  felt  that  there  was  a  world  for  him 
to  take  possession  of,  to  grow  and  develop  in ;  and  a  little 
bit  of  grammar,  a  little  mechanical  arithmetic  and  geography 
and  geometry,  which  made  up  the  sum  total  of  his  school 
instruction,  seemed  all  disjointed  and  purposeless.  The 
geography  especially,  towards  which  his  outdoor  studies 
gave  him  a  strong  bent,  seemed,  as  he  expressed  it,  "  in  the 
air,"  without  root  or  meaning. 

Another  leading  feature  of  his  mind  showed  itself  early ; 
this  was  a  strong  religious  feeling,  and  a  sensitive  conscious- 
ness with  regard  to  duty.  His  mind  worked  much  upon 
these  questions  towards  the  time  of  his  confirmation,  which 
took  place  at  fifteen,  and  at  the  hands  of  his  uncle.  After 
this  ceremony,  which  very  commonly  closes  school  life  in 
Germany,  it  became  necessary  to  decide  whether  he  should 
be  removed,  as  he  ardently  desired,  to  some  place  of  higher 
instruction,  or  commence  practical  life  in  some  shape  not 
requiring  this  additional  expense.  Not  only  had  his  elder 
brothers  been  sent  to  the  university,  but  the  youngest  also, 
the  second  wife's  son,  was  destined  to  share  the  same  privi- 
lege ;  it  was  therefore  peculiarly  hard  upon  Friedrich  that 
his  step-mother  was  allowed  to  prevail,  and  to  fix  his  future 
course  at  a  lower  level.  She  considered  study  too  expensive 
a  privilege  for  a  poor  man's  sons,  and  had  decided  that  the 
family  income  should  not  further  be  lessened  by  such  indul- 


340          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

gence.  It  was  proposed  to  put  Friedrich  into  some  kind  of 
office  where  his  work  would  have  been  among  accounts  and 
inferior  law  business ;  and  an  opening  for  this  offered  itself, 
but  was  relinquished  by  his  father  as  a  concession  to  the 
boy's  own  feelings.  He  shrank  with  horror  from  this  me- 
chanical town  life,  and,  impelled  by  his  intense  love  of  nature, 
entreated  to  be  allowed  to  become  a  farmer ;  thinking  that, 
living  on  and  by  the  land,  he  would  be  in  daily  communion 
with  all  that  appealed  so  strongly  to  hjs  loving  spirit.  He 
was  accordingly  apprenticed  for  three  years,  at  some  distance 
from  home,  to  a  forster,  or  manager  of  forest  land,  who,  he 
soon  found,  neglected  him  and  all  the  practical  part  of  his 
work,  and  taught  his  pupil  nothing.  But  he  had  books, 
works  on  natural  history  and  mathematics,  and  these  the  boy 
studied  assiduously.  His  ideal  of  a  farmer's  vocation  com- 
prised every  kind  of  knowledge  that  country  life  could  re- 
quire,—  natural  science,  geometry  to  be  applied  in  surveying, 
and  many  other  subjects  which  seemed  necessary  to  make 
that  harmonious  whole  complete  in  itself  and  in  its  relations 
with  surrounding  things,  which  was  essential  even  then  to 
his  idea  of  life  in  any  position.  He  felt,  though  dimly  per- 
haps, even  at  that  early  period,  that  this  or  that  kind  of 
knowledge  should  never  be  merely  an  instrument  requisite 
for  a  certain  use,  but  the  rounding  off  of  the  human  being's 
own  development,  the  self-culture  for  a  purpose  higher  than 
any  worldly  purpose,  for  which  he  was  responsible  to  God 
and  his  conscience.  This  is  one  of  the  points  that  illustrate 
how  important  it  is  in  regard  to  a  thinker  like  Froebel  to 
know  his  life ;  for  these  actual  self-questionings  and  struggles 
of  his  own  early  youth  give  the  key  to  what  was  most  charac- 
teristic in  his  later  theories. 

When  his  three  years'  apprenticeship  ended,  it  became 
evident  to  all  that  Froebel  had  acquired  nothing  of  what  he 
had  been  sent  to  learn  ;  and  his  master,  to  save  his  own  repu- 
tation, wrote  a  shameful  report  of  him  to  his  father,  which 
was  exultingly  received  by  his  step-mother,  who  now  at  last 


APPENDIX.  341 

thought  he  would  remain  at  home,  her  useful  drudge  and  vic- 
tim. Fortunately,  he  had  been  wise  enough  to  secure  for 
himself  the  forster's  testimonial  at  the  close  of  his  appren- 
ticeship, and  this  set  him  right  with  his  father,  though  it  did 
little  to  lessen  his  penance  under  Frau  Froebel's  government 
of  home  affairs.  All  entreaties  that  he  might  be  allowed  to 
continue  his  studies  were  set  aside,  and  a  casual  circumstance 
only  led  him  to  visit  one  of  his  brothers  at  Jena ;  and  once 
there,  and  assisted  by  him,  arrangements  were  soon  made 
with  the  trustee  of  some  small  property  of  his  mother's  that 
enabled  him  to  attend  the  university  lectures  for  two  terms. 
But  his  very  small  resources  were  soon  exhausted ;  with  a 
boy's  thoughtlessness,  he  got  into  debt,  was  thrown  into  the 
university  prison,  and  only  by  relinquishing  all  future  claim 
to  the  paternal  inheritance  could  he  obtain  from  his  father  the 
sum  necessary  to  free  himself.  The  amount  of  his  debts  ap- 
pears to  have  been  very  small ;  the  largest  item  was  thirty 
thalers  to  tfie  landlord  of  an  eating-house,  and  some  of  his 
lecture  fees  had  been  left  unpaid.  Nine  weeks'  imprisonment 
seems  a  hard  measure  of  punishment ;  but  he  did  not  waste 
them.  Having  felt  his  deficiencies  in  Latin,  he  worked  hard 
at  it  during  this  period,  besides  reading  whatever  books  he 
could  get  access  to.  He  was  by  this  time  nineteen,  and  still 
adhered  to  his  wish  to  become  a  farmer,  and,  after  an  unpleas- 
ant interval  at  home,  was  sent  to  a  man  who  seems  to  have 
been  the  agent  for  certain  large  estates ;  and  here  he  entered 
into  all  the  practical  work  of  his  calling,  and,  as  might  have 
been  expected  from  a  mind  so  contemplative,  found  practical 
life,  with  all  its  outward  activity,  far  from  satisfying.  Before, 
however,  he  had  formed  any  new  plans,  he  was  called  home 
to  assist  his  father,  who  had  fallen  into  feeble  health  ;  and 
thus  he  had  the  consolation  of  more  intimate  communion 
with  one  whose  intense  energy  and  unfailing  steadfastness 
when  he  had  grasped  a  truth  commanded  his  deepest  rever- 
ence. After  his  death,  the  long-misunderstood  son  could  say, 
"  May  his  now  enlightened  spirit  look  down  upon  me  with 


342          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

calm  blessing;  may  he  now  be  satisfied  with  the  son  who 
loved  him  so  truly." 

Froebel  was  now,  at  the  age  of  twenty,  entirely  independent 
of  control.  He  left  Oberweisbach,  and  obtained  employment 
successively  in  the  forest  department  at  Bamberg  and  on  pri- 
vate estates  as  land  surveyor  and  farmer ;  still  devoting  his 
spare  hours  to  natural  history  and  other  studies,  reading 
Schlegel,  and  Novalis,  and  ever  earnest  in  self-culture  in  every 
direction.  At  this  time,  also,  he  made  acquaintance  with  a 
physician  and  others  who  seemed  to  have  perceived  something 
of  his  rare  nature,  and  afforded  him  the  opportunity  of  higher 
companionship  than  he  had  yet  enjoyed.  They  also  provided 
him  with  introductions  at  Frankfort,  where  he  was  desirous 
of  studying  architecture,  some  knowledge  of  which  he  felt  to 
be  necessary  to  perfect  fitness  for  a  land  agent's  business,  in 
which  much  building  was  occasionally  required. 

This  journey  to  Frankfort  was  the  turning-point  of  his  life. 
He  there,  after  a  time,  made  acquaintance  with'Gruner,  the 
director  of  the  Normal  School ;  and  this  man,  with  evident 
penetration  of  character,  proposed  to  him  suddenly  to  give  up 
his  study  of  architecture  and  become  a  teacher,  —  promising 
him  a  post  as  assistant  at  once. 

How  he  might  have  decided  had  he  been  altogether  free  we 
cannot  tell ;  but  what  seemed  at  the  moment  a  serious 
misfortune,  namely,  the  loss  of  all  the  certificates  he  had 
received  from  different  employers,  coincided  fortunately  with 
this  new  turn  given  to  his  thoughts  :  he  decided  to  accept 
Gruner's  proposal,  and  speedily  recognized  his  true  vocation. 
When  he  first  found  himself  before  a  class  of  from  thirty  to 
forty  boys,  he  felt,  as  he  afterwards  expressed  it,  well  and 
happy,  —  as  if  restored  to  his  proper  element,  as  a  bird  to  the 
air,  and  a  fish  to  the  water.  In  speaking  of  this  first  experi- 
ence in  a  letter  to  his  brother  dated  1805,  he  says  that  "it 
was  strange  that  he  had  felt  at  first  as  if  he  had  long  been  a 
teacher,  and  born  to  that  special  employment  ....  as  if  he 
had  never  lived  in  any  other  relation  "  ;  and  yet  he  adds,  "  I 


APPENDIX.  343 

had  never  thought  to  enter  a  public  school  as  teacher."  In 
this  position  he  realized  the  possibility  of  working  for  that 
ideal  which  had  gradually  become  the  conscious  purpose  of 
his  life,  —  the  ennobling  of  humanity.  It  had  come  over  him 
painfully  before  this,  that  neither  through  architecture,  nor  any 
other  labor  belonging  to  his  chosen  path  in  life,  was  he  .likely 
to  effect  anything  in  that  direction ;  but  education  had  this 
for  its  direct  purpose,  and  won  him  heart  and  soul  to  its  labo- 
rious duties. 

He  took  advantage  of  the  first  holiday  time  to  visit  Pesta- 
lozzi  in  Switzerland.  This  great  educator,  the  forerunner 
of  Froebel  in  some  of  his  principles  and  methods,  was  then 
at  the  height  of  his  fame.  After  many  vicissitudes  he  had 
settled  at  Yverdon,  on  the  shore  of  the  Lake  of  Neuchatel, 
in  the  building  appropriated  to  his  use  by  the  Government 
of  the  Canton.  Here  Froebel  first  saw  the  practical  working 
of  views  that  had  more  or  less  taken  possession  spontane- 
ously of  his  own  mind ;  and  he  was  full  of  reverent  admira- 
tion for  the  man  who  had  struggled  against  so  many  difficul- 
ties, supported  by  the  conviction  that  a  sounder  system  of 
education,  more  true  to  human  nature,  offered  the  surest  hope 
for  the  regeneration  of  society. 

On  Froebel's  return  to  Frankfort,  his  marked  success  as  a 
teacher  fully  justified  Gruner's  choice.  His  class  became  the 
model  class  of  the  model  school,  and  he  had  full  opportunity 
to  let  teachers  and  parents  see  the  advantage  of  his  method 
of  instruction  by  drawing  out  the  pupils'  own  faculties.  The 
first  examination  that  took  place  marked  his  position  ;  but  he 
himself  dwelt  rather  upon  the  deficiencies  of  his  own  knowl- 
edge, of  which  his  work  as  a  teacher  made  him  more  and 
more  painfully  conscious.  His  ideal  was  a  high  one,  and  he 
felt  his  need  of  more  study,  and  especially  of  going  more 
deeply  into  methods  of  instruction  and  education  ;  and  after 
two  years  spent  in  the  Normal  School,  he  obtained  from 
Gruner  his  release  from  the  engagement  he  had  made  to  work 
three  years  with  him,  and  devoted  his  time  to  private  study. 


344  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

Soon  after  this  he  was  offered  the  charge  of  three  boys,  the 
sons  of  Herr  von  Holzhausen,  whose  mother  had  learned 
during  two  years'  intercourse  to  know  and  appreciate  him, 
and  now  entreated  him  to  save  her  sons,  who  had  suffered  so 
severely  frcm  bad  management  that  she  was  utterly  miserable 
about  them.  The  attachment  this  able  and  noble-hearted 
woman  felt  for  him  was  the  first  of  those  female  friendships 
which  in  later  years  exercised  so  much  influence  over  and 
added  so  much  charm  to  his  life.  In  her  house  he  enjoyed 
social  intercourse,  which  helped  to  draw  out  his  nature  ;  and 
her  earnest  request  that  he  would  undertake  the  care  of  her 
sons  at  once  proved  her  confidence  and  confirmed  him  in  his 
resolve  to  give  himself  wholly  to  this  the  noble  work  of  edu- 
cation. His  view  that  the  whole  nature  of  each  child  must  be 
drawn  out  to  form  the  perfect  man,  and  that  only  by  such  ed- 
ucation (which  alone  deserved  the  name)  could  the  race  be  im- 
proved, was  already  clear  in  his  mind.  His  view  of  the  knowl- 
edge required  by  the  educator  was  as  large  as  his  ideal  purpose 
was  high.  He  himself  ardently  wished  to  return  to  study  at 
a  university.  What  he  felt  he  needed,  as  a  teacher,  besides 
languages  and  philosophy,  was  a  study  of  anthropology,  phy- 
siology, ethics,  theoretical  pedagogy,  history,  and  geography  ; 
but  this  wish  for  the  wider  culture  was  necessarily  set  aside 
for  the  time,  in  great  measure  because  his  scanty  means  were 
again  exhausted,  and  he  became  tutor  in  the  Holzhausen 
family  in  1807. 

Without  being  acquainted  at  that  time  with  the  works  of 
Rousseau,  he  so  far  held  the  same  views  that  he  isolated  his 
pupils  from  the  world.  He  obtained  leave  to  inhabit  with 
them  a  country  place  a  short  distance  from  Frankfort ;  and 
probably  his  task  of  uprooting  the  evil  caused  by  former  mis- 
management was  thereby  facilitated.  He  had  all  the  influence 
of  a  free  healthy  nature  to  assist  him,  and  no  dangerous  coun- 
teraction to  dread  from  association  ;  but  after  a  while  he  felt 
such  a  system  was  cramped  and  one-sided.  He  was  con- 
scious also  of  his  own  deficient  knowledge  in  many  branches, 


APPENDIX.  345 

and  with  their  parents'  consent,  he  carried  off  his  pupils  to 
Yverdon,  and  worked  with  them  in  Pestalozzi's  school  for 
three  years. 

This  long  familiarity  with  the  master's  method,  and  with 
its  practical  results,  doubtless  helped  to  ripen  his  own  educa- 
tional views.  Points  of  agreement  and  points  of  difference 
were  brought  out  into  strong  relief;  and  when  in  1810  he 
determined  to  withdraw,  it  was  with  undiminished  respect  for 
Pestalozzi,  but  with  a  strong  feeling  that  his  system,  even  if 
it  worked  with  the  completeness  which  it  never  could  attain 
under  that  original  but  most  erratic  genius,  could  never  be  a 
complete  education,  could  never  draw  out  and  blend  harmoni- 
ously the  whole  faculties  of  the  child.  An  immense  improve- 
ment on  previous  methods,  it  still  did  not  deserve  to  stand  as 
the  new  education  destined  to  regenerate  the  race.  He  re- 
turned to  Frankfort  with  his  pupils ;  and  feeling  more  than  ever 
his  own  deficiency  both  in  classical  and  scientific  knowledge, 
he,  in  the  following  year,  having  saved  a  little  money,  gave  up 
his  work  as  a  teacher  for  a  time,  to  become  a  learner  again  at 
the  University  of  Gottingen,  to  which  he  repaired  in  July,  181 1. 

In  such  a  rapid  sketch  as  I  am  able  to  give  here,  it  is  im- 
possible to  enter  into  the  subject  of  his  studies  ;  and  yet  their 
nature  and  extent  bear  witness  to  the  earnestness  of  his 
preparation  for  what  he  felt  was  the  superior  work  of  his  life, 
and  show  likewise  how  in  proportion  as  he  pondered  the 
truly  sublime  object  he  had  set  before  himself,  the  more  he 
felt  the  need  of  all  the  power  that  a  thorough  grasp  of  knowl- 
edge could  give  him.  He  believed  himself  led  by  Heaven  to 
be  an  educator,  and  was  inspired  with  an  earnest  hope  that 
through  the  reform  in  the  whole  scope  of  education  which  he 
felt  to  be  so  necessary,  he  might  be  the  chosen  instrument  to 
work  out  the  regeneration  of  the  nation  ;  but  he  had  no  weak 
enthusiast's  faith  in  the  all-sufficiency  of  such  a  call  to  fit  him 
for  the  task.  It  was  ever  remarkable  in  him  that,  side  by  side 
with  the  mystic  enthusiasm  of  the  most  exalted  piety,  he  had 
the  sober  practical  sense  of  the  man,  formed  by  experience 


346  REMINISCENCES   OF   FROEBEL. 

ajid  scientific  study ;  and  thus,  although  the  cool  rationalist 
would  feel  no  sympathy  with  one  part  of  his  nature,  and  that 
the  part  which  perhaps  exercised  the  most  influence  on  those 
who  loved  him,  he  could  look  only  with  respect  on  the  pro- 
found conviction  which  gave  the  dignity  and  earnestness  of 
a  lofty  aim  to  the  hard  labor  of  a  life  spent  in  acquiring  and 
imparting  knowledge.  To  him  the  universe  was  the  living 
expression  of  God's  thought ;  the  study  of  nature's  laws, 
therefore,  was  the  study  of  God's  will ;  and  the  complete 
harmony  between  the  developed  human  faculties  and  external 
nature  was  the  great  purpose  of  human  existence,  at  once  the 
work  of  education  and  the  life  of  religion.  It  is  on  account 
of  these  views,  which  interpenetrated  all  he  said  and  did  and 
purposed,  that  the  study  of  Froebel's  life  is  so  important.  If 
we  studied  his  theories  alone,  we  might  fail  to  understand,  or 
perhaps  be  half  offended  by  the  tone  that  pervades  them  ; 
but  when  we  follow  the  man  through  his  labors  and  his  strug- 
gles, when  we  see  him  building  up  his  own  life  as  he  would 
have  built  up  the  national  life,  seeking  knowledge  for  himself 
as  he  sought  to  give  it  to  others,  because  it  was  needed  to 
satisfy  some  thirst  of  the  soul,  to  round  off  some  incomplete- 
ness in  that  perfecting  of  the  whole  being,  which  was  the 
reasonable  offering  of  man  to  his  Creator,  —  then  we  under- 
stand him,  and  each  portion  of  his  system  becomes  clear  to 
us,  not  as  a  piece  of  mechanism  that  might  be  altered  here  or 
improved  there,  but  as  a  living  organism  that  can  work  and 
grow  only  when  complete  in  all  its  parts. 

The  study  of  mineralogy  had  a  special  attraction  for  him, 
and  he  was  very  desirous  to  pursue  it  under  Weiss  at  Berlin, 
and  likewise  to  join  the  class  of  jurisprudence  under  Savigny. 
He  hoped  also  to  find  there  an  opening  for  increasing  his  own 
scanty  means,  which  could  no  longer  suffice  for  his  student's 
life  at  Gottingen.  Accordingly,  in  the  summer  of  1812,  he 
removed  to  Berlin,  and  there,  as  he  had  hoped,  found  employ- 
ment in  a  school  of  the  same  kind  as  the  learned  institute  at 
Frankfort  which  had  been  founded  by  Plamaan,  an  earnest 


APPENDIX.  347 

admirer  of  Pestalozzi,  whose  principles  he  had  determined  to 
extend  from  the  middle-class  schools  to  the  higher.  Thus 
was  Froebel  occupied  when  the  French  disasters  in  Russia 
struck  the  hour  of  deliverance  for  Germany,  and  Prussia,  so 
heavily  oppressed,  and  so  steadily  pursuing  the  means  of 
revenge,  called  upon  every  man  to  take  up  arms  against  the 
oppressor.  The  king's  proclamation,  the  personal  call  "  To 
my  people,"  was  responded  to  with  an  enthusiasm  which  will 
ever  mark  this  as  one  of  the  grandest  moments  in  German 
history.  Then,  as  many  have  said,  did  the  consciousness  of 
the  existence  of  a  German  nation  first  arise.  Froebel,  who, 
like  other  men  of  peaceful  pursuits, —  students,  poets,  and 
artists,  — was  stirred  by  this  call  to  a  new  duty,  was  also 
thrilled  for  the  first  time  by  this  feeling  of  patriotism,  colored 
in  his  mind,  as  all  things  were,  with  the  sense  of  his  duty  as 
an  educator. 

"I  had,"  he  said,  "a  home,  a  land  of  my  birth,  but  no 
fatherland.  My  own  home  made  no  call  upon  me.  I  was  no 
Prussian,  and  so  it  happened  that  in  my  retired  life  the  call 
to  arms  stirred  me  little.  But  something  else  there  was  which 
stirred  me,  if  not  with  enthusiasm,  yet  with  most  steadfast 
determination,  to  take  my  place  among  German  soldiers,  and 
this  was  the  pure  feeling,  the  consciousness  of  being  a  Ger- 
man, which  I  honored  as  something  noble  and  sacred  in  my 
own  mind,  and  desired  that  it  might  be  unfettered  and  able  to 
make  itself  everywhere  felt.  Besides  this  feeling,  I  was  also 
moved  by  the  earnestness  with  which  I  embraced  my  mission 
as  an  educator. 

"  I  could,  indeed,  truly  say  that  I  had  no  fatherland ;  yet  I 
could  not  but  feel  that  every  lad,  every  child  who  later  should 
be  educated  by  me,  would  have  a  fatherland,  and  one  that 
required  to  be  defended  now  when  those  children  could  not 
defend  it.  It  was  hardly  possible  for  me  to  conceive  how 
any  young  man  capable  of  bearing  arms  could  think  of  be- 
coming an  educator  of  children  whose  country  he  would  not 
defend  with  his  blood  or  his  life.  It  was  impossible  for  me 


348          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

to  imagine  how  a  young  man  who  should  not  be  ashamed 
then  to  hang  back  like  a  coward,  could  later,-  without  shame, 
and  without  incurring  the  scorn  and  derision  of  his  pupils, 
stir  them  to  any  great  thing,  to  any  action  requiring  effort  or 
self-sacrifice.  This  was  the  second  consideration  that  weighed 
in  my  decision.  Thirdly,  the  call  to  arms  seemed  a  token  of 
universal  need  of  the  men,  of  the  country,  and  the  times  in 
which  I  lived,  and  I  felt  that  it  was  unworthy  and  unmanly 
not  to  struggle  for  such  a  universal  necessity,  not  to  bear 
one's  own  share  of  peril  in  the  thrusting  back. of  a  general 
peril.  Before  all  these  considerations,  then,  every  opposing 
view  gave  way,  even  that  which  belonged  to  the  fact  of  the 
unfitness  of  my  weak  constitution  for  the  trials  of  such  a  life." 

Thus  in  April,  1813,  Froebel  joined  the  other  Berlin  stu- 
dents, led  by  Jahn,  and  entered  the  famous  volunteer  corps 
of  Lutzow's  "  Black  Riflemen,"  and  served  with  them  to  the 
end  of  the  war. 

With  his  brief  career  as  a  soldier  we  have  no  concern. 
The  great  events  of  that  war  are  known  to  all ;  its  ultimate 
results  have  been  worked  out  before  our  own  eyes.  But 
while  Froebel  was  following  the  fortunes  of  the  field,  he  was 
forming  intimacies  which  were  to  endure  through  all  the 
peaceful  labor  of  his  after  life. 

Two  Berlin  students,  much  younger  than  himseif,  William 
Middendorff  and  Henry  Langethal,  became  his  comrades 
and  were  irresistibly  attracted  by  his  character  and  conversa- 
tion, and  here  by  the  camp-fires  of  the  wild  volunteer  corps 
was  knit  a  friendship  that  bound  these  three  men  together  for 
weal  or  woe  in  the  pursuance  of  the  highest  purpose  of  the 
practical  philosopher.  In  the  younger  men  this  feeling  was 
mixed  with  a  reverence  which  made  them  ever  ready  to  follow 
where  he  led.  It  became  that  high  and  noble  thing  loyalty ; 
which,  even  in  its  lowest  phases,  excites  the  admiration  clue  to 
generous  devotion,  but  which,  given  to  the  leader  who  imper- 
sonates a  lofty  ideal  of  action,  stands  foremost  among  the 
noblest  things  on  earth.  The  whole  power  of  a  man's  nature 


APPENDIX:  349 

then  goes  out  in  love  and  service  to  one  in  whom  he  recog- 
nizes his  guide  to  whatever  is  highest  and  best  in  human  life. 
Trial  and  difficulty  do  but  make  the  devotion  more  ardent ; 
and  in  hours  of  failure,  perhaps  of  such  weakness  or  error 
as  are  inseparable  from  all  human  enterprise,  it  seems  rea- 
sonable even  to  abdicate  for  a  time  the  independent  exercise 
of  reason,  and  still  to  follow  without  faltering  the  leader's 
banner.  All  the  moral  and  intellectual  worth  of  these  two 
men,  and  of  Middendorff  in  particular,  was  thus  given  to  the 
service  of  the  friend  they  revered  as  well  as  loved ;  and  the 
affection  born  then,  amid  the  free  intercourse  of  an  adven- 
turous life,  amid  youthful  excitement  and  daily  peril,  had  but 
grown  stronger  and  more  tender  when,  after  nearly  forty  years 
of  struggle  and  labor,  and  often  weary  disappointment,  Mid- 
dendorff pronounced  his  touching  oration  over  Froebel's 
grave,  and  turned  from  it  to  continue  his  work. 

The  three  friends  were  differently  placed  at  that  period, 
and  seemed  destined  to  different  careers ;  yet  after  a  time 
Froebel's  enthusiasm  for  education  drew  the  others  to  his 
side.  But  this  is  anticipating.  After  the  close  of  the  war, 
Froebel  claimed  the  promise  made  to  him  of  an  appointment 
in  the  mineralogical  museum  at  Berlin,  and  resumed  his  stud- 
ies there,  hut  always  with  the  object  of  completing  his  own 
fitness  for  an  educator,  and  when  offered  a  valuable  post  as 
mineralogist  at  Stockholm,  he  declined  it  as  foreign  to  his 
educational  purpose.  This  purpose  was  suddenly  forced  to 
take  a  practical  form  by  the  death  of  his  brother  Christopher, 
pastor  of  Griesheim,  who  was  one  of  the  many  victims  of  a 
malignant  typhoid  fever  that  spread  widely  over  Germany 
after  the  battle  of  Leipzig.  He  left  a  widow  and  children  ill 
provided  for  ;  and  Friedrich  Froebel  felt  at  once  that  this  was 
the  occasion  Heaven  sent  to  him  to  put  his  system  of  educa- 
tion into  action  by  undertaking  the  charge  of  his  nephews. 
The  widow  gladly  consented,  and  to  her  sons  were  subse- 
quently joined  those  of  the  other  brother,  Christian  Froebel, 
and  other  lads  from  the  neighborhood.  Thus  in  a  peasant's 


350         REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

house  in  the  village  of  Griesheim,  and  later  in  the  neighbor- 
ing one  of  Keilhau,  was  opened  the  first  school  upon  that 
new  method  which  its  founder  hoped  would  become  the  vivi- 
fying influence  to  regenerate  the  German  nation,  and  which 
we  still  trust  may  transform  the  education  of  the  future.  It 
was  the  dream  of  years  that  Froebel  was  beginning  to  realize. 
In  1807  he  had  in  a  letter  to  his  brother  Christopher  laid 
down  his  cherished  plan  of  a  school :  "  Not  to  be  announced 
with  trumpet  tongue  to  the  world,  but  to  win  for  itself  in  a 
small  circle,  perhaps  only  among  the  parents  whose  children 
should  be  intrusted  to  his  care,  the  name  of  a  happy  family 
institution ;  .  .  .  .  and  then  at  last  he  would  live  in  the  coun- 
try the  self-ennobling  life  which  had  been  his  earliest,  bright- 
est, dearest  wish." 

It  would  lead  us  beyond  our  limits  to  attempt  to  examine 
how  far  his  system  may  justly  bear  the  name  of  the  "  New 
Education,"  which  has  been  given  to  it  by  some  German 
writers  :  I  will  only  mention  two  points,  that  characterize  it 
so  essentially  as  almost  alone  to  warrant  its  claim  to  the  title. 
These  are,  the  recognition  of  practical  activity  as  an  integral 
part  of  education,  and  the  parallel  of  the  mental  growth  of 
the  human  being  with  the  development  of  all  other  organisms 
in  nature.  With  regard  to  the  first,  Pestalozzi  had  attached 
much  value  to  manual  exercise  and  handicraft  of  various 
kinds,  but  rather  as  parts  of  physical  training  and  technical 
preparation  for  life,  especially  among  the  lower  classes ;  but  with 
Froebel  all  outward  training  had  an  inward  correlative  ;  some 
mental  faculty  was  always  to  be  consciously  brought  into  play, 
to  be  strengthened  and  directed  aright,  while  the  limbs  were 
gaining  vigor  or  dexterity.  He  did  not  value  manual  work  for 
the  sake  merely  of  making  a  better  workman,  but  for  the  sake 
of  making  a  more  complete  human  being.  "  His  teaching 
rested,"  says  Hanschmann,  "on  this  fundamental  principle, 
that  the  starting-point  of  all  that  we  see,  know,  or  are  con- 
scious of,  is  action,  and  therefore  that  education  or  human  de- 
velopment must  begin  in  action.  Through  what  a  man  works 


APPENDIX.  351 

out,  is  his  inward  being  developed.  Life,  action,  and  knowl- 
edge were  to  him  the  three  notes  of  one  harmonious  chord. 
Book  study  is  ever  in  his  system  postponed  to  the  strength- 
ening and  discipline  of  the  mental  and  physical  powers 
through  observation  and  active  work.  The  young  creature 
must  be  at  home  in  its  surroundings,  —  learn  to  live,  seek  to 
understand  outer  and  visible  things,  and  to  exercise  its  own 
creative  faculty,  before  it  is  introduced  to  the  inner  world  of 
thought,  to  symbols  and  abstractions,  and  made  to  gather  up 
the  fruit  of  other  men's  labor  and  experience.  With  regard 
to  the  second  point,  —  the  unfolding  of  the  human  powers 
according  to  inner,  or,  as  we  may  call  them,  organic  laws,  — 
it  lay  at  the  core  of  his  whole  theory  of  education.  He  had 
watched  development  and  gradual  formation  by  the  action  of 
inward  laws  through  all  the  realms  of  nature,  —  plants,  ani- 
mals, and,  lastly,  in  the  forms  of  crystals,  which  seized  pow- 
erfully on  his  imagination  ;  and  that  the  human  creature  was 
destined  by  the  law  of  its  being  to  develop  in  like  manner 
possessed  his  mind  as  a  revelation  of  Divine  truth.  Hence 
all  systems  of  education  that  aimed  at  outward  accretion  only 
or  mostly,  that  trusted  to  pouring  in  instruction  on  the  undis- 
ciplined mind,  were  to  him  false,  and  the  only  real  system  was 
that  which  assisted  natural  growth,  which  cultivated  and 
strengthened  the  opening  faculties,  placing  mental  food  within 
reach,  and  aiding  the  effort  of  the  young  creature  to  grasp  it. 
The  true  educator's  care  was  to  study  the  nascent  powers, 
and  so  to  frame  the  surroundings  that  the  active  use  of  each 
and  all  in  harmonious  work  should  become  a  necessity  and  a 
pleasure. 

All  who  have  any  acquaintance  with  ordinary  school  meth- 
ods will  appreciate  from  these  few  words  the  immense  chasm 
that  separated  and  still  separates  them  from  Froebel,  and  may 
perhaps  understand  better  than  he  did,  in  his  unworldly  sim- 
plicity, the  opposition,  or  the  indifference  more  deadly  than 
opposition,  with  which  the  educational  authorities  of  the 
country  met  his  efforts.  He  fondly  believed  himself  called 


352  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

to  be  the  apostle  of  a  new  era,  and  the  world  knew  him  not, 
and  the  new  era  has  scarcely  yet  reached  its  dawn. 

The  primitive  condition  of  the  village  of  Keilhau  so  late  as 
1815  seems  strange  enough  to  us.  "Although  not  poor," 
says  Dr.  Chr.  Langethal,  "  the  peasants  had  remained  in  the 
condition  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Three  houses  retained  the 
old  form  of  Thuringian  village  architecture,  and  the  date  of 
1532  was  to  be  seen  over  the  door  of  one  of  them.  The 
church,  with  a  pretty  tower,  was  nevertheless  more  like  a 
cellar  than  the  house  of  God.  In  the  midst  of  the  village  a 
water-course  marked  the  street,  and  five  springs  kept  the 
road  ever  wet.  Water-lizards  and  other  creatures  abounded. 
The  living  of  the  peasants  was  very  simple.  As  had  been 
done  five  hundred  years  before,"  says  Dr.  Chr.  Langethal, 
"  the  Mayor  still  counted  off  on  a  notched  stick  the  number 
of  measures  of  wheat  which  each  man  was  bound  to  pay  as 
corn  tax,  or  tithe.  He  gave  forth  orally  to  the  peasants  any 
new  regulation  of  the  Government ;  and  in  order  to  keep  up 
a  military  appearance,  a  day  watchman  paraded  the  village 
with  a  broad  halberd  over  his  shoulder.  The  dress  of  the 
old  man  was  what  he  had  worn  in  his  youth,  and  that  of  the 
women  descended  from  mother  to  daughter."  This  antique 
simplicity  in  his  surroundings  fell  in  right  well  with  Froebel's 
plans  ;  simple  fare,  hardy  habits,  life  in  the  midst  of  nature, 
was  what  he  wished  for  his  boys.  Much  of  his  teaching  was 
given  in  the  fields.  Love  for  natural  history  and  physical 
science  was  inspired  as  the  first  knowledge,  was  put  within 
the  children's  own  reach,  and  their  own  minds  led  to  observe 
and  seek  for  more.  The  heavens  and  the  earth  thus  become 
the  boundless  text-book  in  which  the  learner  is  taught  to 
read. 

Middendorff  was  the  first  of  Froebel's  friends  to  join  him. 
He  had  been  a  private  tutor  for  a  time  while  finishing  his 
theological  studies,  and  now  they  were  completed  he  an- 
nounced to  his  parents  that  their  cherished  wish  of  seeing 
him  devote  himself  to  the  ministry  could  never  be  accom- 


APPENDIX.  353 

plished.  It  was  a  severe  disappointment,  but  the  young 
man  was  following  his  true  vocation,  and  overcame  all  oppo- 
sition. After  a  time,  Langethal,  whose  destination  had  also 
been  the  university,  followed  the  same  course.  Somewhat 
later,  Barop,  a  friend  and  brother-in-law  of  Middendorff,  joined 
them,  and  became  a  mainstay  of  the  whole  enterprise.  The 
friendship  between  the  masters  produced  a  marked  influence 
on  the  school.  Hanschmann  quotes  an  interesting  letter  de- 
scribing the  perfect  harmony  that  reigned,  and  the  affection 
and  respect  inspired  among  the  boys,  which  seemed  to  render 
all  outward  forms  of  discipline  needless.  It  was  a  loving 
family,  as  Froebel  had  desired  it  should  be ;  and  his  own 
marriage  with  a  lady  warmly  devoted  to  his  views,  and,  later 
on,  the  marriage  of  Middendorff  and  Langethal  to  two  of  his 
own  nieces,  drew  the  ties  yet  closer,  and  gave  that  feminine 
element  to  the  whole  life  which  was  necessary  to  complete 
and  harmonize  it. 

As  an  educational  experiment,  the  school  was  in  great 
measure  a  real  success,  though  it  did  not  reach  Froebel's 
ideal.  All  mental  requirements  were  richly  provided  for,  and 
his  own  views  of  education  carried  out  as  far  as  time  would 
allow,  considering  the  imperative  necessity  of  preparing  the 
boys  for  the  university ;  but  the  material  wants  were  met 
with  great  difficulty,  and  in  the  poorest  fashion.  The  friends 
cast  in  their  lot  together  without  stint  or  reserve,  and  Chris- 
tian Froebel  also  gave  help ;  but  even  so,  affairs  did  not 
prosper  either  at  Griesheim  or  at  Keilhau,  where  they  re- 
moved as  soon  as  a  house  had  been  prepared.  Froebel  was 
by  nature  a  man  in  whose  hands  material  interests  could  not 
prosper.  He  had  no  practical  ability  of  that  kind  ;  and  being 
at  that  time  engrossed  with  the  interest  of  carrying  into  effect 
for  the  first  time  the  cherished  views  which  had  become  a 
part  of  his  very  life,  he  was  probably  less  fit  than  ever  to  cal- 
culate and  to  dwell  upon  prudential  and  economical  consid- 
erations. 

As  a  fact,  although  the  number  of  scholars  increased,  the 


354  REMINISCENCES   OF    FROEBEL. 

school  never  became  a  prosperous  one  while  Froebel  admin- 
istered its  affairs  ;  and  he  had  also  the  disappointment  of 
feeling  that  his  hope  of  exercising  a  powerful  influence  on 
national  education  was  fallacious.  Envy  and  misrepresenta- 
tion did  their  work  here,  as  everywhere  when  new  light  and 
new  enthusiasm  meet  old  abuses  and  pedantic  routine.  The 
school  held  its  ground,  but  it  showed  no  signs  of  becoming 
the  beginning  of  a  wide  reform.  Froebel  diligently  exposed 
his  views  in  writing ;  pamphlets,  articles  in  periodicals,  were 
circulated  among  the  public  ;  his  great  work  on  "  The  Edu- 
cation of  Mankind"  was  also  published  towards  the  end  of 
this  period,  but  although  the  attention  of  many  was  roused, 
and  some  powerful  friends  were  gained,  that  was  all. 

Never,  however,  did  leader  or*  disciples  lose  heart  or  hope. 
Devoted  to  a  great  idea,  they  believed  in  its  power  to  prevail 
ultimately,  and  every  privation  was  endured,  every  sacrifice 
made,  with  cheerful  alacrity.  The  more  Froebel  struggled 
against  opposition,  and  was  forced  to  express  his  views  in 
answer  to  opponents,  or  to  convince  the  indifferent,  the  more 
firmly  did  he  grasp  his  central  idea  of  education  as  develop- 
ment from  within,  following  the  course  of  all  progress  in  na- 
ture and  in  the  long  education  of  mankind  through  the  ages 
of  the  world's  history.  And  the  longer  he  was  engaged  prac- 
tically in  education,  the  more  was  he  convinced  that  this  de- 
velopment of  human  capacity  could  not  be  effected  through 
a  learned  education  alone,  but  that  the  active  powers  must  be 
exercised  in  production,  in  due  proportion  with  the  exercise 
of1  the  receptive  faculties  in  acquiring  knowledge  ;  and  that 
without  this  simultaneous  training  a  one-sided  or  a  stunted 
growth  must  be  the  result. 

It  was  in  order  to  win  over  some  friends  to  his  views  that 
he  went  in  1831  to  Frankfort,  and  there  was  induced  to  turn 
his  attention  to  Switzerland  as  affording  more  hopeful  ground 
for  a  reform  of  popular  education  than  Germany,  where  official 
pedantry  was  too  strong.  The  influence  which  swayed  him 
most  in  this  matter  was  that  of  Schneider,  a  man  well  known 


APPENDIX.  355 

as  a  composer,  but  who  had  begun  life  as  a  teacher  under 
Pestalozzi,  and  who  was  possessed  of  a  property  on  the  little 
Wartensee  near  Sempach,  of  which  he  offered  the  use  to 
Froebel  for  the  purpose  of  founding  a  school.  They  went  to 
Switzerland  together ;  the  Government  of  Lucerne,  then  under 
the  influence  of  the  liberal  revolution  of  1830,  gave  the  neces- 
sary authorization  ;  and  soon  the  mother  establishment  at 
Keilhau  had  a  promising  daughter  at  Wartensee.  We  can- 
not here  enter  into  the  history  of  the  struggle  —  the  partial 
success,  the  persecution  of  fanatics,  the  disappointment  as 
regards  popular  education  —  that  assailed  Froebel  there  and 
at  Willislau,  to  which  the  school  was  transferred  later.  We 
can  only  just  glance  at  the  new  devotion  of  his  friends  Mid- 
dendorff  and  Barop,  whose  exertions  in  this  fresh  field  alone 
made  it  possible  for  the  new  school  to  hold  its  ground. 

When  Barop,  whom  he  had  first  called  to  his  assistance, 
returned  to  Keilhau  after  a  long  absence  from  wife  and  child, 
Middendorff  came  to  Willislau  ;  not  without  counting  the  cost 
of  the  separation  from  home,  but  strong  in  his  determination 
to  work  for  the  idea  ;  and  the  separation  lasted  four  years, 
"  I  stood,"  so  he  said  later,  "as  at  a  dangerous  post  during  a 
campaign,  and  dared  not  fail.  The  Catholic  clergy  pressed 
powerfully  upon  us.  How  could  I,  out  of  love  for  my  own, 
fly  before  their  big  guns  ?  Yet  now  I  hardly  understand  how 
I  could  do  as  I  did  !  " 

It  was  in  Switzerland  that  Froebel  began  to  train  teachers 
and  to  work  among  little  children,  —  both  directions  in  which 
his  influence  was  to  be  the  most  felt.  Some  of  his  games 
and  exercises  dated  from  this  period  ;  and  at  one  time  sixty- 
teachers,  some  sent  by  the  Government  of  Berne,  were  train- 
ing under  him  at  Burgdorf. 

Next,  it  was  decided  to  found  a  similar  institution  near  the 
parent  school  at  Keilhau,  and  Froebel  was  full  of  joyful  ac- 
tivity over  this  scheme,  when  the  failure  of  his  wife's  health 
determined  their  final  return  to  Germany  in  1836,  and  busi- 
ness connected  with  her  mother's  death  fixed  their  residence 


35^  REMINISCENCES    OF    FROEBEL. 

in  Berlin  and  Dresden.  Being  thus  separated  from  his  fellow- 
workers,  he  devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  infant  schools, 
and  to  an  active  apostleship  of  his  theory  of  education,  both 
in  writing  and  lecturing.  It  was  in  the  midst  of  the  growing 
success  which  attended  his  labors  that  the  heavy  blow  of  his 
wife's  death  fell  upon  him  in  1839.  At  first  he  seemed  crushed, 
but  again  he  plunged  with  new  enthusiasm  into  his  work,  and 
there  found  the  best  healing  for  his  sorrow.  The  attention 
Froebel  had  given  for  a  long  time  to  infant  schools  indicates 
the  point  towards  which  his  mind  was  ever  turning.  Through 
all  his  labor  as  a  teacher  he  had  been  baffled  by  the  impossi- 
bility of  crowding  into  the  years  a  boy  spends  at  school  the 
instruction  necessary  for  his  after  success  in  the  world,  to- 
gether with  that  training  of  all  the  faculties,  that  harmonious 
development  of  the  whole  nature,  which  he  held  more  im- 
portant than  any  knowledge.  He  had  thought  that  better 
trained  teachers  would  attain  the  object,  but  the  result  proved 
that  the  difficulty  lay  deeper  still.  It  was  in  the  condition  of 
the  children  themselves,  who  came  to  school  with  undeveloped 
or  misdirected  faculties ;  and,  henceforth,  he  devoted  himself 
to  the  subject  of  early  education,  which  gradually  absorbed 
him  more  and  more.  For  years  he  had  tried  the  education 
of  boys  through  men,  and  had  failed  in  reaching  his  ideal ;  he 
now  turned  his  attention  to  preparing  for  school  education  by 
training  the  infant  faculties  through  the  hands  of  women. 
This  phase  of  his  activity,  which  was  the  most  important  of 
all  in  its  lasting  results,  I  shall  pass  more  lightly  over,  because 
it  is  the  one  we  are  best  acquainted  with  in  this  country.  As 
the  founder  of  the  kindergarten  system,  Froebel  is  well 
known  ;  I  have  rather  wished  to  show  what  led  him  to  the 
conviction  of  the  supreme  importance  of  early  education, 
what  were  the  circumstances  acting  upon  a  character  of  a 
rare  stamp  which  led  to  the  creation  of  a  method  at  once  so 
simple  and  so  philosophical,  so  scientific  and  so  religious. 
The  kindergarten  was  the  work  of  his  later  years,  —  after 
time  and  thought,  suffering  and  labor,  had  matured  his  mind 
and  harmonized  the  results  of  his  experience. 


APPENDIX.  357 

About  a  year  after  his  wife's  death  he  retired  once  more  to 
the  peaceful  Thuringian  valleys  to  try  his  new  experiment. 
Hanschmann  gives  an  animated  account  of  the  high  festival 
held  in  honor  of  the  foundation  of  the  first  kindergarten,  the 
day  for  which  was  fixed  on  the  anniversary  of  the  birth  of 
Gottenberg,  —  the  advent  of  a  new  education  linked  with  the 
discovery  of  the  art  which  had  been  the  greatest  educational 
power  in  modern  civilization.  This  practical  rapprochement 
was  most  characteristic  of  Froebel,  and  the  day  was  spent  by 
him  with  the  friends  from  Keilhau  in  a  succession  of  religious 
services  and  popular  rejoicings  in  the  neighboring  villages  ; 
exulting  in  the  full  hope  of  wide  success  and  sympathy 
throughout  the  nation. 

The  most  important  feature  of  this  new  life  was  the  gather- 
ing of  women  who  flocked  to  hear  his  teaching.  Some  time 
before,  he  had  issued  his  call  to  his  countrywomen,  in  which 
he  strove  to  rouse  them  to  a  sense  of  the  holy  mission  of 
womanhood,  not  to  be  accomplished  by  mere  tender  care  of 
children,  but  by  intelligent  educational  culture.  And  nobly 
did  many  respond  to  his  call ;  widows  and  maidens,  the  young 
and  the  middle-aged,  those  who  had  children,  and  those  who 
sought  to  fit  themselves  to  assist  others  in  their  Heaven-ap- 
pointed task,  gathered  round  him  in  the  village,  and  the  vil- 
lage children  were  their  pupils;  and  then  his  system  of  games 
and  songs  and  exercises  was  gradually  completed,  and  the 
old  gray-haired  man  became  the  centre  of  a  young  and  joy- 
ous life,  full  of  hope  and  highest  aspirations. 

From  some  of  those  who  knew  him  then,  especially  from 
Frau  von  Marenholz- Billow,  we  have  received  many  details 
of  his  life  and  work  at  this  period,  of  his  appearance  and  his 
manner,  as  well  as  of  his  opinions  recorded  in  daily  conver- 
sation ;  and  if  I  had  space  I  would  willingly  here  have  repro- 
duced some  of  these  recollections,  but  I  must  hasten  on  to 
the  close.  Froebel's  life  is  in  fact  more  fitted  to  be  the  sub- 
ject of  many  papers  than  of  one,  but  I  am  of  necessity  forced 
to  make  a  rapid  sketch  of  the  whole,  depriving  myself  of  the 


358          REMINISCENCES  OF  FROEBEL. 

help  of  the  quotations  and  illustrations  that  would  have  given 
life  to  my  scanty  narrative.* 

V  Froebel's  second  marriage  took  place  in  July,  1851 ;  the 
lady  he  married  had  from  early  youth  been  a  frequent  visitor 
at  Keilhau,  and  had  taken  an  earnest  share  in  all  his  first 
wife's  labors  for  the  common  cause.  Her  affection  and  sym- 
pathy shed  a  calm  happiness  over  the  close  of  his  existence, 
which  he  has  touchingly  described  himself. 

But  once  more  sorrow  and  disappointment  awaited  him. 
Just  when  public  attention  appeared  to  be  roused,  and  his 
views  to  be  gaining  ground,  the  Government  at  Berlin,  with- 
out assigning  any  reason,  passed  a  decree  in  August,  1851, 
forbidding  any  kindergarten  to  be  established  within  Prussian 
dominions  ;  and  so  great  was  the  influence  of  that  power,  and 
so  easily  were  the  fears  of  the  lesser  States  excited  when 
distant  hints  of  democratic  opinions  were  thrown  out  as  the 
cause  of  the  Berlin  decree,  that  Froebel  shortly  met  coldness 
or  indifference  where  before  he  had  received  assistance  and 
sympathy.  This  check  may  truly  be  said  to  have  been  his 
death-blow.  Not  all  the  peaceful  content  of  his  new-married 
home,  not  the  devotion  of  friends,  or  the  practical  success  in 
his  immediate  surroundings,  could  bear  him  up  against  this 
destruction  of  his  long-cherished  hope  that  he  might  yet  be 
the  regenerator  of  national  education.  The  fervent  lover  of 
humanity  saw  his  anticipations  nipped  in  the  bud,  and  age 
and  toil  had  left  him  no  power  to  react  against  the  blow, 
though  he  remained  the  same  outwardly,  and  worked  to  the 
end  with  unflagging  energ-v.  His  seventieth  birthday  was 
kept  in  April,  1852,  as  a  joyiul  resuval  by  all  who  loved  him, 
and  he  felt  and  responded  to  their  love.  But  this  was  almost 
the  closing  scene ;  two  months  later  the  great  heart  that  was 
all  the  warmer  for  friends  and  family,  because  it  ever  kindled 
for  country  and  humanity  had  ceased  to  beat ;  the  voice  that 
had  always  been  heard  uttering  words  of  loftiest  counsel  and 

*  See  a  work  lately  published,  "  Erinnerungen  an  Friedrich  Froebel,"  by 
Frau  von  Marenholz-Biilow. 


APPENDIX.  359 

encouragement  was  silent  ;  his  native  hills,  the  fields,  the 
woods  he  had  loved  from  boyhood,  and  where  he  had  learned 
to  worship  God  in  studying  the  forms  of  nature,  knew  him 
no  more.  But  true  hearts  and  noble  minds  had  caught  up 
the  echo  of  his  words,  the  inspiration  of  his  thoughts.V  One 
who  had  been  loving  and  faithful  from  the  first,  an'd  who 
survived  him  too  short  a  time,  Middendorff,  spoke  a  funeral 
oration,  which  moves  us  deeply  now  as  we  read  it,  and  from 
which  I  wish  I  had  time  to  quote,  since  I  fain  would  borrow 
words  more  powerful  than  my  own  to  aid  me  in  leaving 
with  you  before  we  part  a  deeper  impression  of  what  that 
man  was,  who  labored  ceaselessly,  and  never  knew  a  selfish 
aim  ;  who  read  the  secrets  of  human  nature  in  the  child  that 
he  might  train  a  more  perfect  manhood  ;  who  roused  women, 
in  the  name  of  the  nation  and  the  race,  to  realize  what  was 
the  power  and  the  duty  trusted  to  them  by  Heaven  ;  the  man 
who  was  too  much  in  advance  of  his  time  to  be  recognized 
as  great  while  he  lived,  and  whose  work,  now  spreading  in 
all  lands,  is  the  work  which  we  have  banded  ourselves  to- 
gether to  forward  among  our  own  homes,  as  a  new  hope  for 
future  generations  of  our  own  people. 


" 


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